FORMULA One chief Jean Todt yesterday hailed next year’s inaugural Vietnamese Grand Prix in Hanoi as a great opportunity to open doors for people with “a passion” for motorsport in Southeast Asia.

The Vietnamese capital will get its first taste of the high-octane glitz and glamor of Formula One when it hosts its first Grand Prix in April next year as the sport bids to tap into new markets in the region.

Todt said he hoped Vietnamese fans seeing the likes of five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel battling wheel-to-wheel on the streets of Hanoi would lead to an explosion of interest in racing of all kinds in soccer-mad Vietnam.

“It’s fantastic for the development of the motorsport in Vietnam and in the region,” Todt, president of motorsport’s world governing body FIA, told reporters yesterday at a groundbreaking ceremony in Hanoi.

“I really hope that soon there will also be facilities to host cart racing, drifting racing,” he added. Todt hopes the event will breed a new generation of Vietnamese drivers.

Hanoi has bet big on the event’s popularity, signing a 10-year multi-million-dollar deal with Formula One last year.

(SD-Agencies)