New deal revives Texas GP

The US Grand Prix in Austin has remained on the 2012 calendar after the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) agreed a last-minute deal with Bernie Ecclestone.

The original contract for the race was held by Full Throttle Productions, the company run by race founder and Ecclestone associate Tavo Hellmund. However, Hellmund had a disagreement with the investors he had brought in to finance the construction of the new circuit, and when he was unable to pay Ecclestone the fee for the first race, the contract was terminated.

Ecclestone subsequently offered COTA a revised deal with stronger guarantees that the track could pay for events in future years. COTA, owned by financier Bobby Epstein, finally agreed to the new contract just before the World Motor Sport Council meeting on December 7.

The concern now is whether the track can still be built on schedule after construction was stopped during the stand-off.

Elsewhere, despite obvious concerns about safety, the Bahrain GP remains on the calendar as the fourth race of the season.