Barely a month after theofficial announcement of the return of the Finnish Grand Prix for the 2019 season, the first concerns arose about the feasibility of the project (see here).
Today, four months later, there are even serious doubts regarding the future of the KymiRing: private investors are being distracted and work is at a standstill, with the exception of those concerning the road infrastructure. financed by public funds.
The project seems so bogged down that the Portimao circuit has even already applied for its replacement before obtaining a refusal from Dorna.
Even the Finnish billionaire Antti Aarnio-Wihuria, which largely financed F1 driver Valtteri Botta (Lewis Hamilton's teammate at Mercedes) is very negative about the project: “I have a negative opinion on the KymiRing project, so I am not investing in the project. MotoGP seems to be overwhelmed by this calendar. The fact that suddenly people would be happy to regularly go to the KymiRing which is located in the desert may be a dead idea. I don't know the details of the project, but my opinion is that it will not succeed as expected. »
Mika Kallio, the only Finn, with Aki Ajo, currently linked to MotoGP, nevertheless hopes that the KymiRing will finally see the light of day: “I don't know exactly the situation on the ground, but I have heard rumors that there are problems with the budget. I think it's normal when a track is under construction, it's always a question of money, I'm crossing my fingers that everything works and we can ride there in a few years. »
In a few years, perhaps, but in 2019 it becomes more and more doubtful...
The budget for the first phase of KymiRing is around 25 million euros. About a third of this amount was to be covered by private funds. The State has granted a subsidy of around seven million euros to the roads, but the additional subsidy of 3,5 million granted in May will only be paid when self-financing is effective.
