Assen mayor Marco Out said that he believes if Formula 1 was to host an event in the Drenthe city, it would boost revenues at the TT Circuit to 200 million euros.
Translation by Traci White
Dagblad van het Noorden reports that mayor Out made the comments during an event for supporters of the racing facility over the weekend. “The race track currently attracts 650,000 visitors a year, and they spend around 100 million euros in Assen and the wider region.”
Out says that revenue is expected to continue rising to around 130 million in the near future, but if Formula 1 were to host the 2020 Grand Prix in the province, the mayor said that calculations he had seen could bring in 200 million euros in revenues.
Secret visit
The possibility of the Drenthe race track hosting the high-profile event is not so far fetched: a Formula 1 delegation paid a secret visit to the TT Circuit back in June to evaluate if the facilities would make a suitable venue. The municipality of Assen and the province of Drenthe are actively campaigning to bring the sport to the north.
Some residents who live in the immediate vicinity of the TT Circuit have been facing increasing congestion and noise pollution from the current visitor levels, and the addition of a Formula 1 event would likely exacerbate that. Mayor Out says that Assen is campaigning to reduce the speed limit on the motorway near the neighbourhoods of Peelo, Baggelhuizen and Pittelo to decrease the issues faced by the locals.
Out also said that the TT Circuit would take pains not to lose sight of its 88-year-long history of auto racing in the region in their efforts to bring a new event to the north.
