A1GP scrap Mexico race
Wednesday, 29 April 2009 13:50A1GP has been forced to cancel the final round of the season in Mexico due to the recent outbreak of swine flu.
The season was due to draw to a close in Mexico City on 22-24 May, but this weekend's round at Brands Hatch will now be the title decider.
The sport's organisers have reacted to advice from the UK Foreign Office with regard to non-essential travel to Mexico.
A1GP chairman Tony Teixeira said: 'To say we are disappointed to have to make this call is an understatement.
'When the news of the health problems broke last week we made sure we kept ourselves up to date with the latest information.
'It soon became obvious this was not an isolated health risk and, when the UK Foreign Office put out its advisory and the World Health Organisation raised the level of influenza pandemic alert, that was when we had to make our decision.
'We must have the safety of all members of the A1GP community, as well as the thousands of loyal fans in Mexico City, as our prime concern.'
Another factor in the decision was that the cargo was due to be flown out to Mexico directly after the Brands Hatch race.
'If we had flown our cars out and not been able to send the teams to run them, it would have been a waste of time and money,' added Teixeira.
'However, this cancellation does not impact on the future of the series, and once Brands Hatch is over we shall be concentrating on season five, for which plans are already well advanced.'
Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal all in with a shout of winning the title.
As the championship cannot be decided in the initial sprint race, it means the season will go down to the wire with the feature race.
