Circuit chief ousted at Nurburgring

News emerged on Friday from the Nurburgring, an historic German circuit battling to keep its grand prix up and running.

The German grand prix is returning to the calendar in 2016, after an ownership crisis at the Nurburgring led to the country’s first absence from F1 in decades last year.

And now, Nurburgring circuit chief Carsten Schumacher is stepping down, reports by the Rhein-Zeitung newspaper and Sedwestrundfunk broadcaster said on Friday.

The news was confirmed by Nurburgring spokesman Uwe Baldes.

Schumacher was running the track on behalf of its current Russian owners, who have reportedly ousted him for unknown reasons.

"Schumacher will retire as CEO after a successful restructuring in the next months," the spokesman told the General-Anzeiger daily.

"With his experience, he has driven a successful restructuring and was instrumental in setting the course for a positive future," he added.

A new chief executive has not been named.