Teams race to join Superleague Formula
Thirty race teams from all over world have submitted an expression of interest to compete in the new series that kicks off in August, 2008.
Featuring 750-horsepower V12 powered single seaters bearing the colors of the world's top football clubs, Superleague Formula will debut with a minimum of 20 individual clubs/cars at its first event.
Each racing team will run two separate single car entries for two separate individual football clubs.
Champions League victors AC Milan plus the national champions of Portugal, Greece and the Netherlands – FC Porto, Olympiacos and PSV Eindhoven – have already confirmed their entry into the series.
The 30 teams have until June 15 to lodge their official entry into the championship, and following that, Superleague Formula – in conjunction with the football clubs – will select the successful entrants. An initial list of 10 race teams will be selected, plus reserves.
Teams from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK and the US are vying to be selected.
"We have been delighted with the level of interest and the quality of the teams that want to race in Superleague Formula," said Competition Director, Robin Webb.
"Ever since our launch announcement in May, the phone has rung constantly at our Barcelona office from teams wanting to be involved. The interested parties come from a wide variety of countries racing in an extensive array of different championships around the world.
"While the commercial terms on offer are an obvious attraction, we have also been pleased by the level of 'football passion' that some of the teams have shown – many of them have a specific football club in mind already.
"The criteria for selection will include past results, technical skills, and commercial capabilities," concluded Webb.
The 30 teams come from a wide variety of different series including GP2, World Series by Renault, A1GP, European Formula 3000, International Sportscars, World Touring Car Championship, major domestic Touring Car Championships and Champ Car Atlantic.
The successful race teams not only receive their first Elan-built Panoz Superleague Formula chassis free-of-charge, they also enjoy a heavily subsidized engine program from Menard Competition Technologies as well as the support of a full-time marketing sales executive from Superleague Formula who will handle sponsorship sales for each team/club.
Unsurprisingly, football-mad countries such as Italy (eight teams), UK (five), Spain (three) and France (three) head the prospective entries.
Series organizers are currently in negotiation with major football clubs from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Belgium, Sweden, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, UK, US, China and Korea regarding filling the final spots on the grid.
Announcements regarding the signing of additional clubs are expected in the near future.