HRT is in a “tough race against time” to do winter testing in 2012

HRT's new CEO Saul Ruiz has announced that his team will have a "tough race against time" to allow their car to carry out pre-season testing in 2012.

In the last two years the Spanish team has failed to complete its car in order to present it in the winter tests and therefore had to test it for the first time in the first grand prix. This year there are new investors in the team, to be precise Thesan Capital, but the new CEO said that the situation has not changed much compared to previous years.

“Work on the new car project has been going on for months and the development line was defined a long time ago.” he said. “We have a technical office in Monaco where there are more than 60 people working on the F112, both in the development of the project and in the aerodynamic part. The car will arrive for 2012 and we hope to have it for pre-season testing, but for this we have to fight hard against time."

HRT's plans for 2012 are set by the Munich office, decided by team principal Colin Kolles and transferred to a facility in Valencia.

“We have never been blocked by this, which is to bring the HRT activities all to Spain,” he adds, “To date, we take into account every factor which is the best option. Different departments are scattered in various places for now, and it must be taken into account that the team's license is Spanish, the natural thing is that everything moves in Spain. For communication, logistics, coordination and cost reasons it is necessary for all departments to move together.”

“If we were based in Spain we would save time and effort, also we are one of the smallest teams in Formula 1 so we have to offer something different to our sponsors. We have had a logistics headquarters in Valencia since November 1st, where we will work until the final base is ready."

The team recently announced Pedro de la Rosa as its driver for 2012 but it is not yet known who his teammate will be although Liuzzi announced "that he is linked to the team for a long period".

“We hope to complete our driver lineup after the season is over,” he confirms. “We are also working hard for next year's sponsors and partners. We will make our first announcement soon and we also hope that recent events will help generate people's confidence and attraction towards us. We are aware that the economic situation in Spain and the rest of the world is not ideal, but F1 is still an unbeatable world show and we can offer different interests and views than other teams."

Stefano Rifici