AFP - Sunday, August 24
VALENCIA, Aug 23, 2008 (AFP) - Celebrities and mega-yachts swept into Valencia as the Formula One circus hit town with local officials hoping the Spanish port will soon rival Monaco as Europe’s sporting “glamour capital.”
Sunday’s European Grand Prix, staged like Monaco on a street circuit, follows last year’s America’s Cup yachting regatta in Valencia, the next edition of which is currently scheduled for 2011 in the Mediterranean port.
The new circuit passes through the port area, where the mega-yachts of the billionaire F1 owners and sponsors were anchored, such as Indian Empress, the 98-metre (320-foot) vessel of Force India owner Vijay Mallya.
Actors Penelope Cruz, Adrien Brody and Gerard Depardieu mingled this weekend with the celebrity bosses of the big teams, such as Renault’s Flavio Briatore.
It was unclear though whether Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia would visit, following the air disaster in Madrid that claimed 153 lives on Wednesday.
The best seats in the 26 stands around the city were going for 500 euros (740 dollars) each.
But the economic crisis appeared to be hitting the touts, some of whom were forced to offload their tickets at well below their regular price, local media said.
And the company organising the event, Valmor, which had earlier boasted it had sold all the 112,000 seats, still had 15,000 left on Saturday, according to the local media.
It also had to appease hundreds of disgruntled spectators, who said they could not see the race from their expensive seats.
Valmor and city officials responded that these were teething problems that would be sorted out.
City authorities have staked a lot on the race, which is expected to bring in around 70 million euros.
And effusive praise from the drivers and bosses of Formula One for the circuit, set up in just nine months, has reassured them.
“It is the best urban circuit and one of the best (Formula One) circuits in the world,” said Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, to the great delight of Rita Barbera, Valencia’s dynamic mayor.
Barbera and the head of the region, Francisco Camps, said the race could even replace that of Monaco as F1’s top glamour event.
That remained to be seen in the face of decades of tradition in the principality, where the rich and famous maintain homes.
Ironically, as Valencia gained its first Grand Prix in part due to its successful staging of the America’s Cup, the auto race seems now to have eclipsed the yachting event.
The two billionaire bosses of the top America’s Cup teams, Switzerland’s Ernesto Bertarelli of the victorious Alinghi team and American Larry Ellison of Oracle, were notable by their absence, as organisers used their Valencia facilities for spectators.
The next edition of yachting’s premier event, currently scheduled for 2011, is also threatened by legal wrangles between these two teams.
Spain’s third largest city, which hopes to eventually market the two events together in a sporting and media extravaganza, will have to be content for the moment with just the automobile race.
| 
|