Formula 1 will return to Africa for the first time in 40 years after the sport signed a 10-year deal with Rwanda.
The East African nation will join the Formula 1 calendar in the early 2030s with a purpose-built circuit in Bugesera, south of the capital Kigali.
Rwanda has beaten the likes of South Africa to having a spot on the calendar, with the Rainbow Nation the last African country to stage a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1993.
Rwanda president and Arsenal fan Paul Kagame said that the announcement “belongs to Africa”.
He added: “For more than three decades, the world’s premier motorsport championship has raced without this continent, and that changes with this agreement.
“The circuit in Bugesera, alongside the new international airport, will bring jobs, skills, tourism and new business to our country and our region for decades to come, because our aim was never a single race weekend, but a lasting benefit for our people.”
Formula 1 returns to Africa
The Grand Prix has already secured a title sponsor, the state-backed Visit Rwanda. The tourism board recently swapped a sponsorship deal on Arsenal’s shirt sleeve for a front-of-shirt agreement with fellow Premier League club Aston Villa.
Their wider sponsorship portfolio includes the likes of Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, both the LA Clippers and Rams, Atletico Madrid and the Basketball Africa League.
“Today is a landmark moment for Formula 1,” the sports president Stefano Domenicali said. “With Rwanda joining the calendar from the next decade, our sport will race in every inhabited continent, bringing the world championship closer than ever to fans around the globe.”
Nations including India, Vietnam, Thailand and Argentina are all hoping to join the Formula 1 calendar, while former stalwart nation Germany is understood to be eyeing a return to the roster of host nations.
But the sport itself is unlikely to expand the number of races it holds every year, with the 25-race limit one the sport feels is manageable.