Morocco, serious African contender for hosting F1 Race

Morocco is poised to enter race for hosting the prestigious Formula-One among two other African candidates, South Africa and Rwanda, vying for the event.

To enhance its chances, the North African Kingdom has a $1.2 billion project, sited 20 kilometres south of the coastal city of Tangiers, according to online motorsport website “RacingNews365”.

The Moroccan project includes a Grade 1 circuit fit to host F1, WEC and MotoGP, a theme park, a shopping mall, hotels and a marina. Up to 10,000 jobs could be created by this project which has attracted so far $800 million private investment.

According to experts, the main draw of the Moroccan offer for F1 is that Tangiers is easy to reach from Europe. The industrial port of Tanger Med, located 45 km north-east of Tangiers, can be accessed by a short journey from the Spanish port of Algeciras, allowing the teams to construct their motorhomes in the paddock rather than work over a grand prix weekend out of temporary structures.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said he was in talks with three African countries in a bid to end the sport’s 32-year wait for a race on the continent.

South Africa has long been mooted, but red tape and financial issues have plagued the possibility of a return to Kyalami, the circuit north of Johannesburg that last hosted F1 in 1993.

At the end of last year, Rwanda President Paul Kagame announced during the FIA prize-giving ceremony in the capital Kigali that his country was launching an official bid.

Eric Boullier, former McLaren and Lotus team principal, said the selected Moroccan site met all the criteria and creates a completely independent ecosystem, obviously based on tourism. The Moroccan project will have a huge impact on the region, based south of Tangiers, with additional hotels and the airport are all within 15 kilometers.