US GP misses FIA circuit planning deadline

Organisers of the 2012 United States grand prix in Texas have missed a deadline to lodge the design of its circuit with F1’s governing body.

Promoter Tavo Hellmund said in early August that the Austin layout would be presented to the FIA’s Circuits Commission in September.

According to a report in the Austin Business Journal, that self-imposed deadline was missed.

The organisers revealed the basic design of the track to the public on September 1, and more detail to local authorities later last month.

But track designer Hermann Tilke’s German-based company Tilke GmbH did not submit plans during the Circuit Commission meeting on September 14, the FIA panel’s president Roger Peart confirmed.

Sources said the organisers can theoretically submit the plans well into 2011, and a spokesman said the missed deadline is not an indication of problems.

“We look forward to breaking ground in December and hosting a race in 2012,” he said.  “We are working hand-in-hand with the FIA.  We plan to deliver final plans in the next couple of months.”

The FIA’s Peart said the next Circuits Commission meeting is unlikely to be held until 2011.

Tilke also played down suggestions time is tight for the Austin track to be built for a 2012 debut.

“We are used to working under time pressure.  That doesn’t threaten us,” he told the American Statesman from Germany.

 © RIF | GMM