Prodrive disappointed to miss entry

Prodrive boss David Richards has expressed his disappointment at the decision by the FIA not to include his team on next year's official entry list, but has still not totally given up on seeing his outfit make the grid in 2010

With continued uncertainty about the future of the eight Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) members, and them having until June 19 to drop the conditions attached to their entries, there remains a chance other new teams could be added to the roster.

AUTOSPORT understands that the FIA is remaining in dialogue with at least three or four F1 hopefuls who could be granted entries if current teams drop out.

Richards said he would keep a close eye on events over the next week, although said his focus for now was on this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours - where he is competing with Aston Martin.

"We are naturally disappointed by the FIA's decision not to include Prodrive in the preliminary entry list for 2010 as we believe we have the resources and set-up to be competitive in Formula 1 and would make a positive contribution to the sport," said Richards in a statement issued on Friday.

"We will wait to see how things develop in the next week, up to the 19th June deadline set by the FIA and we remain prepared and ready to implement our plans should the circumstances allow. As we have seen before, there are quite often many twists and turns in Formula 1.

"However, this weekend our attention is one hundred percent focused on our Aston Martin team at Le Mans. For the first time we are challenging for outright victory with a three-car line-up, following two consecutive GT1 class wins, on the 50th anniversary of Aston Martin's historic 1959 win at the circuit de La Sarthe."