Campos out, Audi in?

[WhiteBlue]

Campos leaves team, to be Volkswagen in 2011

Motorsport.com/GMM

Bernie Ecclestone and Jose Maria Carabante have joined forces to rescue the Campos team, Spain's Diario AS newspaper reports.

The deal will reportedly see team partner and president Carabante take over from Adrian Campos and lead the outfit to its Bahrain debut next month, before the German car giant Volkswagen steps in for 2011.

AS said the team intends to change its official name from Campos Meta 1 prior to the start of the season.

The Valencia headquarters will remain for now, and the multi million euro debt to Italian car constructor Dallara will be paid.

AS, explaining that the touted investment of A1 chief Tony Teixeira never materialised, said former Force India boss Colin Kolles will be team principal.

The newspaper said Bruno Senna's contract as race driver will be honoured, and that the hopeful Serbian outfit Stefan GP will instead need to look to assume USF1's official entry.

This would be seriously crazy! =D> =D>

Kolles runs Audi sportscars so far and it sounds logical if they would revive the four ring Auto Union silver arrows again.

The only thing that makes me doubt it is Stuck's attitude towards team ownership. He said that supplying engines would be fine but a team was out of question for VW.

[mx_tifoso]

Seriously WB, couldn't this have been posted in one of the Campos threads?

Take your pick...

search.php?keywords=campos&terms=all&au ... mit=Search

[WhiteBlue]

If this is true, it definitely deserves a thread.

[xpensive]

Agreed, just as much as your other threads anyway.

[MattyT]

There doesn't seem to be anyone else running with this story yet...

[Crabbia]

maybe the got enticed by a silver arrows auto union matchup in the 21st century. but i'm not sold yet, lets wait and see. i think audi will think twice in joining if merc does really well this season.

[WhiteBlue]

maybe the got enticed by a silver arrows auto union matchup in the 21st century. but i'm not sold yet, lets wait and see. i think audi will think twice in joining if merc does really well this season.

Yep, I was thinking that someone else may provide the capital to run the team. Could even be Bernie or one of his friends. In order to get VW or Audi on board they need to convince FIA and FOTA to run a GRE like engine formula in 2013 at reasonable cost. The Renault model to have someone run a team for them could apply.

[Fil]

So every rumour deserves a new thread now..?

Hasn't there been a topic about VW Group's potential entry into F1 too?
What was the most recent quote from a VW spokesperson that was mentioned there..?

Something along the lines of VW not being interested in F1 until there are major major changes to the sport's regulations and its administration..


Surely those comments are enough to debunk (and hopefully lock) this thread.

[axle]

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/

Joe Saward
The Spanish media has picked up an interesting story regarding the future of the Campos Meta 1 Formula 1 team. It sounds rather far-fetched in some respects but parts of it make sense. The reports suggest that investor Jose Ramon Carabante may decide to go his own way in the future and run the team for a year before handing it over to Volkswagen in 2011. The stories say that former Midland F1 boss Colin Kolles would be the team principal.

So, what of that is likely and what is not? Carabante is a rich man. He runs a company called Grupo 2002, which is heavily involved in property development and property management, hotels and shopping centres, both in Spain and increasingly internationally, particularly in South America. He is also expanding in the United States where the recession has created much opportunity. He is also involved in healthcare with plan to build top-end hospitals and in finance with a company which inludes former government minister Miguel Boyer.

Carabante, a lawyer, has an impressive art collection and has invested in sponsorship of Spanish basketball before getting involved with Campos. Money is not a problem for him in the long term, but there may be questions of his cash flow. It is quite possible that he does not want to invest more money in Campos and that he might consider realigning the partnership as it is fairly clear that Campos and his marketing partner Enrique Rodriguez have not delivered the sponsorship needed to run the team. Thus a Carabanate takeover of the team is certainly plausible.

There is also no doubt that Kolles still has Formula 1 ambitions. he has run various other projects since leaving F1 and has close links with Audi. Whether this could be translated into a VW Formula 1 project is another matter. There is no doubt that VW may be looking at F1 in the long term, particularly now that the costs are coming down. The big question is whether the logical choice would be to do its own team or provide engines to established operations. We have just seen a wave of manufacturers leaving F1 because of the costs and the need to invest their available money in other things. Some may return in a few years, some may not.

The stories suggest that Tony Teixeira’s bid for the team never amounted to much.

[WhiteBlue]

I also saw that. Still consistent with a possible Audi return. I bet they will deny everything. At least that would be a better use of the chassis than anything else I have heard so far.

And here we go German Motorsport-total.com quotes Stuck for VW:

That is complete nonsense. We are pleased about such rumors because it compliments us to be talked about. Formula1 is at the moment not an issue for us at all. If it should become an issue it will only happen on the basis of the global racing engine.

Hm, not a very strong dementi.

Kolles was also interviewed and denied any involvement with the scheme. It sounds like someone is releasing balloons to test how the wind blows.

[Mr Alcatraz]

I also saw that. Still consistent with a possible Audi return. I bet they will deny everything. At least that would be a better use of the chassis than anything else I have heard so far.

And here we go German Motorsport-total.com quotes Stuck for VW:

That is complete nonsense. We are pleased about such rumors because it compliments us to be talked about. Formula1 is at the moment not an issue for us at all. If it should become an issue it will only happen on the basis of the global racing engine.

Hm, not a very strong dementi.

Kolles was also interviewed and denied any involvement with the scheme. It sounds like someone is releasing balloons to test how the wind blows.

If Kolles is involved that would have to be taken very seriously.

Sorry to veer off topic, but what ever happened with his law suit against Force India?
Did they settle?

[nosh]

i thought that VW were linked to Red Bull, or STR , i cant remeber. But anyway , wouldnt it make more sense for them to get an engine and put it in the red bull or take over STR, they could probably get more exposure / better performance that way and it would probably only cost them a tiny bit more than they are currently spending on their le mans effort. And it don't think audi would be participating in F1 unless they could use a diesel engine cause thats what they are really trying to push atm.

[WhiteBlue]

And it don't think audi would be participating in F1 unless they could use a diesel engine cause thats what they are really trying to push atm.

True for LeMans. In terms of future strategy they are very much committed to GRE, which isn't likely to go diesel.

They probably want to continue with the Dakar and have options for WRC, DTM and F1. With a GRE they would be prepared to supply F1 from 2013 on.

VW are doing Dakar with Red Bull using their Tuareg platform that also runs as Porsche Cayenne.

[Roger the knife]

Well that's buggered USF1's final chance of getting it's hands on an F1 car

[Mr Alcatraz]

Well that's buggered USF1's final chance of getting it's hands on an F1 car

Rtk this country is in it's worst financial peril since the great depression!
I think Windsor, and Co. were serious going in, but we can't even afford our traditional racing series'.
Advertising in Nastycar is even been reduced, Though still quite healhy.
The climate is not conducive to some feriner talking carpet bagger
coming in and sticking his fingers into the cookie jar.

An All American Team:
Translation---- If I play to the jingoistic aspect of the US. (which is enormous)
Backers might get me the money to form a proper team!
It's a sham!