Sky sources understand talks are at an advanced stage; Planned auction of race cars and pit equipment cancelled
Tuesday 20 January 2015 13:56, UK
The outlook for the Manor GP team, formally known as Marussia, has taken a positive turn this week with Sky sources disclosing talks with an investment group are at an advanced stage.
The Banbury-based squad missed the final three races of the 2014 after their Russian backer, Andrey Cheglakov, pulled his backing following the Grand Prix in Sochi.
Cheglakov's Marussia Motors company had folded in April 2014 without producing a road car during its seven years in business.
Marussia almost made an 11th-hour return to the grid at the Abu Dhabi finale, and freight had been packed ready to dispatch from East Midlands Airport to the Yas Marina Circuit, but the potential investment had missed a deadline by a matter of minutes.
Following two auctions in December, comprising mostly of memorabilia, a further sale had been scheduled for Wednesday when the team’s 2014 race cars, pit equipment, spare parts and GP3 cars were all due to be put under the hammer.
However, following the warning by former Team President Graeme Lowdon that that sale would have spelt the end, it has now been cancelled, with no future date planned, to allow talks to progress with new investors thought to be different from those that planned to take the team to Abu Dhabi.
"Marussia have an entry for the 2015 World Championship, they current have debts of £60m, but if they do continue in existence they are in line for £30m of prize money based on their performance last season," reported Sky Sports' Craig Slater.
"The interested party has not been named, but we understand it is not the same organisation that came close to taking it to the Abu Dhabi GP."
Marussia entered F1 in 2010 as Virgin Racing having been born out of successful junior formula team Manor Competition. They won Formula Renault UK titles with Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen and also helped develop the careers of Paul di Resta, Oliver Jarvis, Lucas di Grassi and Sam Bird.
The team claimed their only F1 points at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2014 when Jules Bianchi finished ninth on the streets of the Principality. The Frenchman remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital following his accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in October.
The Sky Sports F1 Online team will be providing live commentary of all three winter tests, starting in Jerez on Sunday February 1, with live updates from trackside also on Sky Sports News HQ.
