Nürburgring Will Host '13 German F1 Grand Prix; Ecclestone, Track Operators Reach Deal

F1 "will race at the Nürburgring this summer," according to BILD. The operating company of the insolvent Nürburgring GmbH, NBG, "has reached an agreement with F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone." Government sources "confirmed the deal on Wednesday evening." The Grand Prix of Germany "is scheduled for July 7" (BILD, 1/31). The PA's Ian Parkes reported Ecclestone had to overcome "political in-fighting" to get the deal done. On two occasions this month, Ecclestone has said that the race "will not be held at the Nürburgring because of financial issues." The fall-back position was for Hockenheim to play host this year, but according to Ecclestone, "therein lies further difficulty." The two circuits come under the auspices of different automobile associations in Germany, which "pride themselves on staging a race known as the German Grand Prix." Ecclestone said, "It's all a little bit political, with different political groups fighting each other." He added: "We've said to them we don't have to call it the German Grand Prix this year, we can call it the Grand Prix of Europe. It's all a bit messy. At the moment the race is on-off, on-off, but we're doing our best to get it sorted" (PA, 1/30).