Toyota to host F1 Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji Speedway
Toyota Motors has said it will stage a Formula One race at the Fuji Speedway in September 2007 for the first time in 30 years.
"We are ready to stage the pinnacle auto race in the world at the best scenic spot in Japan," Toyota president Yiroaki Kato said Thursday.
He estimates 140,000 spectators will attend the final day of the Japanese Grand Prix on September 30 and that 280,000 will attend over three days.
The Fuji Speedway opened in 1965 and staged two F1 races in 1976 and 1977.
The latter year saw a spectator and steward killed when a Ferrari driven by Gilles Villeneuve ploughed into the crowd after a shunt.
Toyota upgraded the track with an enlarged paddock, meeting F1 specifications and winning a "Grade One" licence from the International Automobile Federation in January last year.
It received the green light in March to stage the Japanese Grand Prix from next year, snatching the contract from rival automaker Honda.
Kato said he was "not in a position to talk about" the possibility of sharing the race with Honda's Suzuka Circuit by staging it every other year.
AFP
