We wanted to act, not talk - Sheikh Fawaz

Bahrain has taken pole position ahead of its rivals in a bid to bring Formula One motor racing to the Middle East.

Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, President, General Organisation for Youth and Sports (GOYS) announced formal plans for a multi purpose race track at a press conference last week. The project would cost an estimated 30 million dinars (about Dh291 million).

The three circuit race track will be located in Sakhir adjacent to Bahrain University and will have grand prix, inner, outer and drag racing facilities.

Later speaking to Gulf News in an exclusive interview in Manama, Sheikh Fawaz threw light on Bahrain's ambitious project saying, "We deliberately wanted to keep a low profile towards building a race track. We wanted to make sure that the numbers added up. We did not want a track which was not economically viable.

"We were working through our consultant Herman Tilke (who has been assigned with the development of the project). The option to go ahead was based on numbers. We took conservative figures, when you look at organising these events, and it made sense to us to go ahead."

Commenting on Bahrain's low profile prior to the announcement Sheikh Fawaz said, "We wanted to act, not talk. A lot of countries talk. We didn't want to join in. We wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing."

Sheikh Fawaz stated that the presence of a track would have both economic and social benefits.

"It is economically viable as per studies conducted. We are in the process of appointing a financial consultant to look after possibilities of analysing investors. There are different investors looking to participate.