The Romanian capital will host for the first time on May 18-20, 2007 a leg of the FIA GT Championship, Hartmut Beyer, the initiator of the Bucharest Ring project announced on Sunday.

"We want to give Bucharest a place in the world, alongside other capitals. We want to offer Romania the possibility to take part in this championship, the more so since from January 1, 2007 it joins the European Union. This event will have a special economic impact on your country," said Beyer, who praised the quality of the route around Parliament Palace where a car race was held on Sunday.

He estimated the arrangement of the circuit will cost between 15 million and 18 million euros.

The international promoter of FIA GT Stephane Ratel gave assurance the Bucharest circuit will be an original one. He said three championships for different classes will be organized during the Romanian event, namely FIA GT - in which cars like Lamborghini Murcielago, Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari F40, Ferrari F50 will run; FIA GT 3 in which 50 vehicles will take part; and British Formula 3.

The Bucharest circuit will be 3.2 km long. The average speed will be 150 kmph, which means one lap will be run in 1.15 seconds. The organizers hope they would be able to welcome more than 100,000 audience.

The Bucharest City Hall officials say that holding such a competition is beneficial to the city, saying they estimate the revenues to the local budget from the public land use to be some 500,000 euros.