PURE suspends engine building for 2014

PURE, the engine company set up by Craig Pollock and which is planning to join Formula 1 in 2014, will be halting its activities as of the start of August. This follows the loss of a prime investor, as revealed to GPUpdate.net last month.

When speaking with GPUpdate.net in June, CEO Pollock confirmed that the company was finalizing its move to the former Toyota F1 facility in Cologne but that the loss of the stakeholder had delayed its test bench work until September.

“We had quite an advance but then an investor pulled out, which we had to replace and that held us back by probably four to six weeks," the former BAR Team Principal explained. “The case is that we should now be on the test bench by the beginning of September, or maybe the end of August.

“Getting into 2014, the way it stands is that each one of the manufactures would still be able to supply three teams – their own team and two others. If PURE for some reason was to fail, the sport would have to allow the other manufacturers to supply more than three teams, but of course that is not part of the plan."

In 2014, F1 will switch to 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines and PURE is set to be in competition with Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault. Cosworth is not expected to remain on the grid.