Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
Formula One
F1: Stefan No Longer Has 2010 Toyota Car
Stefan GP's attempts to race in F1 have taken a serious blow...
Adam Cooper  | http://www.speedtv.com  |  Posted March 19, 2010   Balen (BEL)
Toyota announced in November of last year they would be leaving Formula One Stefan GP then struck a deal to acquire their car designs and equipment. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Zoran Stefanovic’s ongoing attempts to get Stefan GP onto the F1 grid have been made rather harder by the end of his deal with Toyota Motorsport, which means that the team no longer has access to a completed car.

Stefan’s deal was pending gaining an entry for 2010, and having failed to do so, the original memorandum of understanding has lapsed. Stefanovic had been loaned a small office in TMG’s Cologne factory from which to work, and that has now been closed.

It’s believed that TMG has little faith in Stefanovic’s ability to put a viable commercial package together, and sources say that any kind of extension of the arrangement looks highly unlikely.

Suggestions that Stefan might yet get onto the 2010 entry list – by virtue of a deal with US F1 – would seem to be somewhat optimistic, although Bernie Ecclestone mischievously told this writer in Bahrain that such a scenario was not impossible.

“I think they’ve come together now with some ideas,” Ecclestone told me. “We have to find a way. They won’t be there for sure for the first two or three races, whether they’ll be there after that, we’ll have to see.”

Pressed on whether a late Stefan entry had any basis in reality he implied that it might depend on the failure of another team: “I don’t know, I doubt it because it’s not fair to the others... But imagine one of these other people was in a little bit of a trouble?

“I’m happy to have America, and I’d be happy if we had Serbia in, it’s another country. The more countries, the better it is.”

However it’s already been made very clear by the FIA that whatever Ecclestone’s thoughts on the matter, Stefan is not going to get in.

Indeed Bernie’s support was one of the few assets the team seemed to have, but the FOM boss has backtracked a little on what he really said after meeting the Serbian Prime Minister and discussing potential government backing of the F1 team.

“What they said then was they would support the team, which they would do. Whether they would pour money in... I don’t think so.”

Logic suggests that Stefan GP would be in a relatively strong position when the FIA conducted its 2011 entry process if it still had the Toyota TF110 chassis as a starting point, and it’s not clear where the team would now start from. However Mike Coughlan and his men have presumably gleaned a lot of knowledge from their access to the Toyota.

With no ongoing commitment to Stefan, TMG is now open to offers from third parties. Last week the company formally announced that it was available to undertake design and development work for road and racing projects, and thus a new alliance with a prospective 2011 F1 entrant is not out of the question.

In a statement, TMG said that it has “restructured to provide specialist solutions ranging from complete car development to individual component testing or production, aimed at the automotive or engineering sectors and beyond. Around 200 experts provide a flexible portfolio of specialized services which for the first time is available to external clients, in addition to the worldwide Toyota family.”

Meanwhile Toyota would appear to face the small problem of retrieving two container loads of its pit and garage equipment which were sent on one-way sea freight trips on behalf of Stefan GP. One is currently in Bahrain, and the other in Kuala Lumpur.

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter

Play! SPEED Fantasy Racing - GP Edition
adam_cooper's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam Cooper

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.