The final round of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship, which was to be held in Portugal Sept. 4-5, has been cancelled due to the unexpected delays in reaching a revised host city agreement, according to race officials, who note negotiations with Tourism Portugal and the cities of Lisbon, Porto and Gaia was positive, however time ran out to execute a race of this size, complexity and of the quality expected of the strong fan base in Portugal.
The 2010 race was originally announced on Dec. 21, 2009, to take place in Portugal’s capital city, Lisbon. Earlier this year the city of Lisbon, in an effort to secure a longer term agreement for Portugal, approached the cities of Porto and Gaia to develop a joint proposal which would have seen the race alternate between the north and south of Portugal over the next four years.
“The Red Bull Air Race is committed to keeping Portugal on the race calendar, however, due to the delays in finalizing the agreement, we were faced with making a tough decision to cancel the race for 2010 due to the time available to plan and execute a quality event.” said Bernd Loidl, CEO Red Bull Air Race GmbH.
Just five years since it was officially launched, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship has touched down in locations around the world from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro to the West Coast of Australia, and most recently its debut in New York on the Hudson River.
For more information: RedBullAirRace.com
