A new cloud may be descending over the Russian grand prix. Last year, although the Sochi race did take place, swirling speculation had suggested it was in doubt due to the Crimean crisis and the Malaysia Airlines MH17 disaster.
Now, Russian grand prix promoter OJSC Center Omega has cancelled the Sochi Autodrom's scheduled May round of the Red Bull Air Race, which is an obstacle-dodging event for aerobatic planes. The promoter announced that the "current exchange rate situation" had affected the "balance between the operational costs and costs of the tickets".
Red Bull's Erich Wolf confirmed: "Due to the current situation with the international capital markets, our partners in Russia are facing extremely high exchange rates. This makes it impossible to set up an infrastructure fulfilling our high standards and also to provide our fans with tickets at affordable prices. Nevertheless we still hope to stage a race in Sochi in the future," he added.
Omega insisted that the Russian grand prix, scheduled for October of this year, remains the Sochi Autodrom's forthcoming "major event of the year". (GMM)
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