City of Cape Town officials will soon receive a formal presentation from the Cape Town Grand Prix South Africa group regarding the possibility of hosting a Formula One race in the Mother City.

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted in an interview a few months ago that he would be interested in seeing an F1 race return to South African shores in the next few years, with a Cape Town track considered the most viable option.

Africa is currently the only continent that does not host a race on the F1 calendar, and this could change in the near future if a group called CapeTownGrandPrixSA receive positive feedback from city officials based on the work they have done thus far.

Founder and chief executive of CapeTownGrandPrixSA, Igshaan Amlay, told EWN Sport that the meeting with city officials will be an important step towards hosting the race.

“We’re currently in the process of engagements with various other stakeholders as well as formulating the presentation and once the events committee sees the presentation, then the decision will be taken there and based on that decision, we’ll see whether Cape Town will be hosting the Grand Prix or not,” he said.

A spot on the Formula One calendar for Cape Town would mean the hosting of an annual event, and would be a great money spinner for the South African economy, further building credibility with sports fans around the world and boosting tourism.

A Formula One race last took place in South Africa as far back as 1993, with the venue used at that point being the Kyalami Track in Johannesburg.

South Africa has an excellent track record of hosting events from a variety of sporting codes with great success, including globally recognised competitions such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 1996 and 2013, the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and even the Indian Premier League (IPL) at short notice in 2010, when India was not able to host the competition on the subcontinent.