The operators of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racing circuit on Friday officially returned possession of the track to the township of Imola and a tender will soon be issued to find new management.
Sagis, which had ran the track for the past 35 years, turned over the property in compliance to an order from the town issued last Tuesday.
The contract with Sagis, a company set up by the Bologna branch of the Italian Automobile Club (ACI), was rescinded in December after the official cancellation of the Formula 1 San Marino Grand Prix, which had been staged at the Imola track for the past 26 years.
The contract was also cancelled because Sagis had failed to pay instalments, for a total of 860,000 euros, on a loan which the town had guaranteed.
Imola Mayor Massimo Marchignoli said at the time that it was important to bring in new management in order to create the conditions for the return of Grand Prix racing there.
Also on Friday, Sagis and Marchignoli chose their representatives for the arbitration of the 10-million-euro suit the management company filed against the township for damages.
The arbitration panel will be chaired the head of the Lombardy regional tribunal, Pier Maria Piacentini .
Marchignoli said the tender for a new group to run the circuit will be published in the next few days and interested candidates must demonstrate that sufficient as well as specific management experience.
It will be up to future management, he added, to obtain approval from the international automobile and motorcycle federations to hold Grand Prix races at the Imola track.
Formal bids will be invited between March and April and a final decision is expected by the end of May.
In the meantime, renovation on the track will continue in the pit and paddock areas as well as on 600 meters of new track.
The San Marino Grand Prix was definitively struck from the 2007 calender last October, despite a slot being left open in a preliminary line up.
According to Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Sagis had not provided sufficient economic and safety guarantees to allow the staging of the race.
The future of the San Marino Grand Prix originally came into doubt in early 2004 when Ecclestone told an Italian sports daily that the 2004 race at Imola would be the last.
He later backtracked, after speaking with local and national Italian government officials, and the contract was extended in exchange for a commitment to make changes to the track imposed by the international racing federation FIA.
Aside from the track changes, Ecclestone was said to have also asked for more money from race organizers in order to stage the Grand Prix.
The San Marino Grand Prix was one of the oldest races in Formula 1 and was created in a legendary handshake between Ecclestone, then-track operator Luciano Conti and late Enzo Ferrari.
