Renault team looking for funding

Ed Note: With Renault rumored to be losing their buy-a-ride Russian driver, they need to find money somewhere fast. Will they also be dead in the water along with the new teams that are not going to make it? We never thought we would see the Renault name and team turned into a new Minardi.

Gerard Lopez, the new major shareholder of Renault's Formula One team, has revealed talks with three unnamed Polish companies.

Lopez, head of the Luxembourg based Genii Capital investment company, said the talks are about sponsorship of the Enstone based team, whose lead driver this year is the 25-year-old Pole Robert Kubica.

Last week it emerged that Kubica is Poland's richest sportsman, with earnings above EUR4 million in 2009.

But the country's economic daily Puls Biznesu said it will be difficult for Renault to find sponsors in Poland.

"(The) Polish market has not been properly explored yet. We're holding talks with three Polish companies," Lopez said.

He did not reveal the identity of the companies, but the major firms PKN Orlen, an oil company, Telekomunikacja Polska, insurance company PZU Group, the PKO Bank Polski bank and Kulczyk Holding all said they did not receive offers from Lopez.