Επίσημο: Η Caterham F1 Team πουλήθηκε

Μετά από αρκετές μέρες προβληματισμού για την Caterham, από τη στιγμή που ο Tony Fernandes παραδέχτηκε πως η Formula 1 δεν δούλεψε, ήρθαν επιτέλους καλά νέα για την μικρή Βρετανική ομάδα της Formula 1. Με ανακοίνωσή της σήμερα, η Caterham επιβεβαίωσε πως η ομάδα πουλήθηκε σε επενδυτές από την Ελβετία και τη Μέση Ανατολή. Οι επενδυτές αυτοί ακολούθησαν την συμβουλή του πρώην

Σύμφωνα με το δελτίο τύπου της ομάδας, η ονομασία και η βάση στο Leafield δεν θα αλλάξουν, ενώ η διαχείριση θα γίνεται από τους Manfredi Ravetto και Christijan Albers (ο πρώην οδηγός των Minardi και Spyker), καθώς ο Cyril Abiteboul φεύγει από την ομάδα. Ο Albers δήλωσε για το μέλλον της ομάδας:

Γνωρίζουμε τη μεγάλη πρόκληση που έχουμε μπροστά μας, λόγω της μάχης που υπάρχει για τις τελευταίες θέσεις του πρωταθλήματος. Ο στόχος μας είναι η δέκατη θέση φέτος. Δεσμευόμαστε ότι θα εξασφαλίσουμε το μέλλον της ομάδας, προμηθεύοντας την με όλα τα απαραίτητα στοιχεία για την ανάπτυξη και την επιτυχία της.

Σε ότι αφορά τα αυτοκίνητα, η Caterhman Group ανακοίνωσε πως οι υπόλοιπες εταιρίες του ομίλου, Caterham Cars, Caterham Composites, Caterham Technology & Innovation (CTI), Caterham Racing (GP2), Caterham Moto Racing Team (Moto2) και Caterham Bikes, παραμένουν κάτω από την ομπρέλα του Tony Fernandes, του Kamarudin Meranun και του CEO Graham Macdonald. H εταιρία θα αναπτύξει ένα νέο αυτοκίνητο-ναυαρχίδα, με κωδική ονομασία C120.

Δελτίο ΤύπουCATERHAM F1 TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT

Leafield Technical Centre, UK – 2nd July 2014

Caterham F1 Team is pleased to confirm that Tony Fernandes and his partners have sold the team to a consortium of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors, advised by former F1 Team Principal Colin Kolles.

Under the terms of the sale, the team will continue to race as Caterham F1 Team and will remain based at Leafield for the foreseeable future.

The new ownership takes charge with immediate effect. Former Dutch F1 driver, Christijan Albers, assisted by Manfredi Ravetto, will take over the day-to-day running of the team, reporting directly to the board and replacing Cyril Abiteboul who will leave the team to pursue new challenges.

Christijan Albers:”We are aware of the huge challenge ahead of us given the fight at the bottom end of the Championship and our target now is to aim for tenth place in the 2014 Championship. We are very committed to the future of the team and we will ensure that the team has the necessary resources to develop and grow and achieve everything it is capable of.”

CATERHAM GROUP STATEMENTCaterham Group has confirmed that it has sold its F1 team to a consortium of Swiss and Middle-Eastern investors. All other Caterham Group brands – Caterham Cars, Caterham Composites, Caterham Technology & Innovation (CTI), Caterham Racing (GP2), Caterham Moto Racing Team (Moto2) and Caterham Bikes, remain as core elements of Caterham Group under the direction of CEO Graham Macdonald and shareholders Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun.The sale of Caterham F1 Team now allows Caterham Group to focus on its core activities and continue to see them develop and flourish. The order book for Caterham Cars is full until January 2015, with the company having to ramp up production from September this year to satisfy increasing and unprecedented global demand for the legendary Seven. Similarly, Caterham Composites has increased its workload in the aviation, marine and automotive sectors and CTI continues to win new third party contracts in addition to the development of the new flagship Caterham two-seater sportscar, codenamed C120, amongst other projects.Graham Macdonald, Caterham Group CEO: “Firstly I want to thank everyone who was involved in the F1 team for all their hard work and dedication since the team’s first days in 2009. We have now secured an exciting new future for the F1 team with Dr Kolles that will allow the Caterham name to remain in Formula 1, giving us all the benefits of that exposure but also allowing us to focus our resources on new Caterham product development whilst leaving F1 to enter an exciting new chapter under the guidance of the new owners.“The future for us now lies with all the exciting brands that make up Caterham Group. We will be looking to maximise the benefits of the F1 platform across all our brands , working closely with the new team owners, and our core focus is still on launching the brand new two-seat Caterham Car, a project we will be making more announcements about in due course.”