REPORT MONACO gp - Mundo Motorizado

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a1Gp
A1GP
ready to
be sold
The AsseTs of The A1Gp woRld cup of
Motorsport are finally in a position to be
sold, according to the company now
attempting to dispose of them.
Freight company Delivered on time,
one of the major creditors of the series
that held its last race in 2009, gained the
rights to sell the assets after reaching an
agreement with administrator tim
bramston of Griffins insolvency last
December. it has now resolved what it
called “legal obstacles” to enable a
sale of the assets, including all the
‘powered by Ferrari’ single-seaters
and the intellectual property rights
to the a1Gp name.
Dot managing director paul Fowler
Le mans
ToyoTA wAs expecTiNG To RuN Two
cars at this weekend’s le Mans test Day,
as autosport closed for press.
the toyota Motorsport GmbH team
had raised doubts that it would be able
to complete the second of the two ts030
HybriD lMp1 coupes it will field in the
24 Hours on June 16-17 in time for the
test. However, a company spokesman
revealed on Monday that tMG had hit
all its build targets and that the car, the
third ts030 to be completed, was due
to leave its cologne base for le Mans
yesterday (Wednesday).
the second car took part in an
endurance test at paul ricard last week.
it ran for more than 2000 miles, despite
losing time when anthony Davidson
damaged the front of the car after hitting
what was believed to be a rabbit.
Former peugeot racer stephane
sarrazin has been confirmed as the
toyota’s sixth driver for le Mans. the
said: “We have got it into a position to
sell it for the first time. previously, it
was never properly packaged for sale.
there were a lot of suppliers with title
claims that hadn’t been dealt with.
“our part in this is that we have a
massive debt from a1Gp and we want
to recover that. We are in a better
position to sell it because we have the
motorsport knowledge.”
Fowler stressed that no sale had
been made, despite reports at the end
toyota on course for test day
ex-toyota Formula 1 test driver replaces
Hiroaki ishiura, who withdrew from
the line-up with a back complaint.
sarrazin moves over from the
starworks HpD lMp2 squad with which
he is contesting the full Fia World
endurance series. His place will be
taken by briton tom Kimber-smith.
Sarrazin back
in Toyota gear
Last A1GP race was
at Brands in 2009
of april that a Dutch company, World
race Management, was planning to
relaunch the series.
“We can categorically say that it is
not sold,” Fowler continued. “but we
are in negotiation with three parties.
Hopefully something will come of
those negotiations.”
the Dutch organisation and the
british-based group trying to relaunch
a1Gp under the a10 World series banner
are believed to be in talks with Dot.
WoRLd Gt1
Ratel targets North
America for GT1 series
GT1 could race in the USA
fiA GT1 woRld chAmpioNship boss
stephane ratel is optimistic that he can
take the series to north america next year.
ratel told autosport that he has
redoubled his efforts to take Gt1s to north
america in the wake of the cancellation of
the argentinian event at san luis for this
season. He explained that for 2013 he
needs an event on a third continent in
addition to europe and asia, as demanded
by Fia rules for world championships.
“things are moving on the other side
of the pond,” he said. “We are in contact
with four serious promoters.”
→
p59 gt1 nAVArrA report
news
Pit & Paddock
In BRIeF
Lynn was
fastest in test
Lynn tops BRItIsh F3 test
british F3 rookie alex lynn was fastest in
last week’s official test at rockingham
ahead of Fortec Motorsport team-mate
Hannes van asseldonk. carlin driver
Jazeman Jaafar was third fastest.
JeFFeRIes makes F2 deBut
Zimbabwean axcil Jefferies made his
Formula 2 debut at the nurburgring last
weekend, recording a best finish of 14th.
He took the car vacated by Victor Guerin,
who was on Gp2 duty at Monaco. Kourosh
Khani was another absentee.
danIeLsson JoIns tta GRId
ex-Formula renault 3.5 champion alx
Danielsson will make his tta debut at
Mantorp park this weekend. He replaces
Mark Miller at the brovallen citroen team
while its other driver, Jan brunstedt, has
been ousted by Markus nordenstrom.
tuRkInGton tests FoR WsR
colin turkington tested a Wsr bMW last
Friday at silverstone. the 2009 british
touring car champion was called up as
regulars tom onslow-cole, rob collard
and nick Foster were unavailable.
neW nascaR camRy Launched
toyota unveiled its all-new nascar sprint
cup camry last week. the car, which will
be used in top level competition from
2013, follows the trend of its rivals by
sharing more styling cues with the road
car than the current version.
The new Camry
May 31 2012 autosport.com 25