22/03/2010
NEWS STORY
Joan Villadelprat's Epsilon Euskadi is to make a bid for a place on the grid in 2011 having failed to gain one of the three vacant spots in the 2010 selection process.
On Friday, the FIA announced that it was beginning a new selection process to identify a team to fill the 13th grid slot, the slot allocated to USF1 and - following the American outfit's failure - denied to Stefan Grand Prix. The FIA is also seeking one or more reserve teams.
Announcing his team's decision to apply for an entry, Villadelprat said: "We were ready in June, we had the financial support, but for whatever reasons we were not chosen.
"We will reopen the project," he added, according to ESPN, "and my job is to re-gather all of the support that we had. If the FIA gives us enough time to be ready for next year, we can be in F1."
In reality, according to a letter sent by Villadelprat to Flavio Briatore on June 26 last year, and which Pitpass has seen, the Spaniard claimed to have a very good idea why his team was denied an entry despite its impressive facilities and track record.
At the time, Villadelprat claimed that his team was denied an entry because it didn't intend using Cosworth powerplants, indeed, he claimed that he was "advised by Tony Purnell" that for his application to have any chance of success he would "need to report Cosworth" as his "engine supplier for three seasons".
On saying that he had a "real possibility of obtaining a Renault, Mercedes or Ferrari engine", Villadelprat claims "it was made very clear to me that it was considered a 'mandatory' condition that Cosworth was the engine supplier".
Furthermore, the Spaniard claimed that the results of the selection process were known days ahead of their official confirmation.
Stefan Grand Prix was to subsequently make a similar claim, going so far as to take its complaint to the European commission.