12th team for 2008: Prodrive

[BlackSamurai]

Button's ex boss, David Richards is back to F1 business with his brand new team, ProDrive.

Prodrive to enter Formula One


http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=116493

The FIA this morning announced that David Richards' Prodrive was accepted as the latest Formula 1 entry as of 2008. Prodrive was chosen as it has the best combination of financial backing and motor sport experience.

"Prodrive has the best combination of financial backing, technical capability and motor sport experience and is well known to the FIA through its participation in the World Rally Championship," explained FIA President Max Mosley. "Also, Prodrive's chief executive, David Richards, has experience as a Formula One team principal."

The FIA received 11 applications of new teams that were interested to enter F1 in 2008.

 

[Daniel Lee]

ProDrive??? Is it the one that specialize in scooby???

 

[ARTC5859]

Prodrive is not a new team. Dave Richards owns Prodrive and they have been around for years. They were the ones who built WRXs for WRC. It was the foresight of Dave Richards that convinced the Japanese Bosses at Subaru to get into Rallying and thus we have the WRX as we know today. Pro Drive have also built Ferraris for GT racing and recently the Aston Martins which won LeMans.

Dave Richards was part of the successful team which brought Michael Schumacher his first and second World Champoinship with the then Benetton Formula 1 team. He came back to F1 with BAR in 2003 and sorted out all the crap and booted Jacques Villeneuve out and brought in Jesen Button. They had a successful year in 2004 with a handful of podiums and everything looked promising for 2005 until BAT sold their shares and DR was booted out of BAR. Since then BAR and then HONDA Racing have been under performing.

DR also owns and runs the licencing for WRC and he has developed the way we watch WRC to a more exciting and interesting package - what we see on AXN today.

It'll be great to see DR back in F1. He and his team will build a good competitive car. I'm glad they picked him to come in and not Stoddart and Jordan.