The story below appeared in the Austin newspaper Austin American-Statesman:
Posted: 8:58 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2013
Austins 2014 Formula One race scheduled for early November
By Dave Doolittle
American-Statesman Staff
Next years Formula One race at Circuit of the Americas in Southeast Austin is scheduled for early November, about two weeks earlier than the previous two races.
The World Motor Sport Council, an arm of the Federation Internationale de lAutomobile the sports governing body today set the 19-race 2014 calendar.
Austins race for the past two years has been held in mid-November, when temperatures have been chilly in the morning but warm in the afternoons.
The 2014 date has been set as Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, when conditions could be a bit warmer. It will be the third to last race on the calendar.
Officials have not announced when tickets will go on sale.
Next years race will not clash with Texas Longhorns football, which has a game at Texas Tech in Lubbock scheduled for that weekend. This years race fell on the same weekend as a home game against Oklahoma State, causing an even greater demand for hotel rooms.
However, the race is scheduled on the same date as a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. That race is the second of the year at the Fort Worth oval and is part of the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Texas Motor Speedway will also host a NASCAR truck race on Oct. 31 and the Nationwide Series on Nov. 1.
TMS officials have recently announced changes that will reduce its overall capacity to 112,552.
Attendance at this years Austin Formula One race was announced as 113,162, which would make it the citys second-largest sporting event behind last years inaugural F1 race. That one drew more than 117,000 and had a three-day attendance topping 265,000.
Circuit of the Americas Chairman Bobby Epstein said that overlaps between NASCAR and events at the Austin circuit are inevitable, in part because of the of the length of the NASCAR schedule.
However there are few similarities between a NASCAR race and the Formula 1 weekend we have developed, Epstein said in a statement. Ultimately, we see this as a great opportunity to draw sports fans from around the world to Texas and to proving again that Austin is the place to enjoy premium racing and entertainment.
Hosting Formula One during Halloween could make for an interesting mix on Sixth Street, which every year is closed off to vehicles to make room for thousands of revellers, many dressed in costumes.
The Austin area has about 30,000 hotel rooms, with an estimated 4,000 more on the way.
Many hotels have chared higher rates during Formula One week because of increased demand.
On Wednesday morning, Expedia.com, Hotels.com and Hotwire.com were advertisting rooms from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 available for less than $100 to $400.
A race on the streets of two New Jersey cities with Manhattan as a backdrop is not on the 2014 calendar. That race, the Grand Prix of America, was announced in 2011 and originally scheduled for this year but was pushed back to 2014 because of financial setbacks.
Race officials said Wednesday morning that they are working on restructured financial agreements for a 2015 race.
Our entire management team and our supporters in New Jersey, New York and throughout the Formula One community obviously want to see the inaugural Grand Prix of America at Port Imperial take place as soon as possible, race executive chairman and promoter Leo Hindery Jr. said in a statement. Bringing a world-class race to the worlds largest media market is a huge undertaking that has required balancing construction of our road course, without tapping any public money, with the Sports own timing demands.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone also expressed confidence the race would go forward in 2015.
There is great demand for a race in New Jersey and I have no doubt well be racing at Port Imperial in 2015, Ecclestone said. New races can take many years to get started, but there is significant momentum and we are close to realizing a New York City F1 race.
A race planned in Mexico City is also not on the 2014 calendar, nor is South Korea, which has hosted Formula One since 2010.
All three races were on a draft calendar released in September.
The Mexico race wouldve been held at Mexico Citys Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which last hosted Formula One in 1992 and would have to be refurbished. Tavo Hellmund, once a founding partner of Circuit of the Americas but who had a falling out with the financial backers well before the first race, is involved in the Mexico City project along with billionaire Carlos Slim Domit, son of the worlds richest man, and entertainment giant CIE.
The Korean race in Yeongam in the countrys far south has been poorly attended and has been losing money.
Indias race, which has been held in the fall since 2011, is also not on the calendar, though organizers have said they expect it to return in 2015 as a spring race.
Two new races have been added to the 2014 calendar: Austria will host Formula One for the first time since 2002 at the revamped Red Bull Ring in June. A Russian race at the Black Sea town Sochi, the site of Februarys Olympic Games, is set for October.
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