F3 team eyes leap into formula one

UPDATE (GMM) The boss of the British F3 outfit Ultimate Motorsport has confirmed he is in negotiations to buy into the formula one team Toro Rosso.

It was reported recently that the Northamptonshire based squad, in only its second year of competition, is positioning to take over Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz's 50 per cent share of STR, with the backing of the Angolian oil company Sonangol.

Faenza based Toro Rosso's other 50 per cent owner, Gerhard Berger, denied the reports, but Ultimate boss Barry Walsh said: "We are in negotiations so I can't reveal too much about it until everything is final."

The Irish Independent newspaper said Irish driver Michael Devaney's links to Walsh means that he would be well positioned to move into F1 with Ultimate.

After the 23-year-old's recent wins at Snetterton, Ultimate's team manager said Devaney is "ready for formula one".

Ulsterman Walsh is also quoted as saying by the Irish Independent: "We always set out with formula one as the target.

"I would only have got involved in the project in the first place if I was confident we could take it all the way to F1 — that is the aim.

"If our plans go the right way, I'd like to think we could be on the grid for 2009. The aim is to have the whole structure, with the academy from karting, through formula 3 and the World Series, and formula one at the top," he added.

06/10/08 (GMM) A British F3 team has set its sights on entering formula one in the near future.

Northamptonshire based Ultimate Motorsport, in only its second year of competition in 2008, is reportedly in talks with Toro Rosso about taking over Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz's 50 per cent share.

The outfit, with stated ambitions to "climb the motorsport ladder", already runs with sponsorship and branding by Sonangol, a partially state-owned oil company in Angola.

Earlier, it was reported that Ultimate wanted to go it alone in formula one as early as 2009, but was relying on a green light to run customer cars.

It was said the outfit is closely following the current negotiations about a new Concorde Agreement, the now lapsed and delayed contract between F1's teams, Formula One Management (FOM) and the FIA.