Post by Viper on Aug 23, 2005 22:22:10 GMT -5
Audi F1 acquires Team Porsche
In an unexpected move this week, team Audi F1 announced that they have been in negotiations for a month now with Team Porsche owner Lonnie King. They finally signed the contract this afternoon after which, they made a press conference. “We started talking ever since Matt Finlay announced he would be leaving Porsche to found his own team. Lonnie had his mind set to keep with the team, but after a whole month of searching drivers for the team for next year without any good prospects, he approached me again about the offer. We then decided to acquire Porsche gaining a few of their facilities in Germany and incorporated their R&D team to ours. All this will be of great value for us next season.” Said Diogo Vincenzi, Team Audi F1 Manager and Director. He went on to continue explaining the deal:
“With all that, Lonnie will be filling the second driver position for us, which will only increase our prospects for next season. It won’t affect in any way, the deal Team KDR currently has with Porsche. The building facility will keep operating without our intervention thus not affecting any teams using their engines.” When asked about what would happen in essence to Team Porsche, Vincenzi said: “As for the team itself, we are not going to shut it down. We are keeping the entire team together and we’ll be transferring them to Hockenheim permanently. We have a secondary team plan at the moment, and if we can find drivers for next season, it’ll be entering the competition as well using the same engines as ours. If not, we’ll be using it in a different league, but that’s not to be entirely disclosed right now”
The press went then to asking Lonnie about his feelings about the whole deal. He said he was sad for having to part from Team Porsche, but that he was definitely expecting a good season at Audi F1. Team Porsche will continue driving for the rest of the season to honor the contracts in place in the start of the year. Towards the end of the session, Vincenzi released a note about their new 2006 car “With Lonnie on the team now, the design of our 2006 car will move faster with two drivers testing it. It’s on the early stages, but we are hoping it’ll be even better then our current car”
In an unexpected move this week, team Audi F1 announced that they have been in negotiations for a month now with Team Porsche owner Lonnie King. They finally signed the contract this afternoon after which, they made a press conference. “We started talking ever since Matt Finlay announced he would be leaving Porsche to found his own team. Lonnie had his mind set to keep with the team, but after a whole month of searching drivers for the team for next year without any good prospects, he approached me again about the offer. We then decided to acquire Porsche gaining a few of their facilities in Germany and incorporated their R&D team to ours. All this will be of great value for us next season.” Said Diogo Vincenzi, Team Audi F1 Manager and Director. He went on to continue explaining the deal:
“With all that, Lonnie will be filling the second driver position for us, which will only increase our prospects for next season. It won’t affect in any way, the deal Team KDR currently has with Porsche. The building facility will keep operating without our intervention thus not affecting any teams using their engines.” When asked about what would happen in essence to Team Porsche, Vincenzi said: “As for the team itself, we are not going to shut it down. We are keeping the entire team together and we’ll be transferring them to Hockenheim permanently. We have a secondary team plan at the moment, and if we can find drivers for next season, it’ll be entering the competition as well using the same engines as ours. If not, we’ll be using it in a different league, but that’s not to be entirely disclosed right now”
The press went then to asking Lonnie about his feelings about the whole deal. He said he was sad for having to part from Team Porsche, but that he was definitely expecting a good season at Audi F1. Team Porsche will continue driving for the rest of the season to honor the contracts in place in the start of the year. Towards the end of the session, Vincenzi released a note about their new 2006 car “With Lonnie on the team now, the design of our 2006 car will move faster with two drivers testing it. It’s on the early stages, but we are hoping it’ll be even better then our current car”