Speedcar series dies, A1GP not far behind

The Speedcar Series has come to a close after just two seasons, it has been announced. With the championship having supported Formula One events in the Middle East and other Asian regions for the last two years, 2009 has turned out to be the last for the financially strapped competition. Featuring such ex-F1 names as Jacques Villeneuve, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Johnny Herbert – who clichéd the title in 2008 – the Speedcar Series was run by Union Properties, which has now regrettably elected to pull the plug on the project.

"Everything is closed and everyone is gone, including me," series director Claudio Berro said to Autosport. "If everyone had worked together, Speedcar would have been a success; the problem is politics and that there is no culture of motorsport in the Middle East. "I am convinced that the Middle East needs a series, but I am not sure that Speedcar was that series."

The A1GP series is suffering similar ills – little income, huge expenses. See related news item.