Ceremony takes places to lay the first stone of the Qatar circuit (yes in the middle east!)
Yesterday a small ceremony took place as the first ‘symbolic’ stone was laid in construction of the Qatar circuit in Doha, that next season will host a round of the World Championships.
The proceedings were watched by Prime Minister H.H. Abdullah Bin Khalifah Al Thani, Dorna CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, FIM safety representative Claude Danis and head of the national motorsport federation, Naser Bin Khalifa Al-Ateiah. Also in attendance was World Champ Valentino Rossi and former multiple 500cc title holder Mick Doohan.
The agreement to host the first ever MotoGP event in the Middle East was reached back in June, at Mugello, for the Grand Prix of Italy. Since then the project has been steadily going planning stages. In September the representatives from Qatar revealed their impressive layout design, with a circuit that stretches to 5.4kms in length. In October construction work began on the facility and the track is expected to be laid and surfaced by January.
The Grand Prix of Qatar will be the thirteenth round of the 2004 World Championship and will take place on October 2nd.
No GP in the good ol' USA in what 10 years?! But they can get a world class track approved and built in less than 2 in the middle eastern desert!
http://www.knieschleifer.at/Motogp2003/IRTA%20Test%20Jerez/Fotos/Quelle%20www.yamaha-
-miKe
