HRT aims to catch Virgin in Turkey

Technical chief Geoff Willis has been working hard on delivering improvements to the F111, which the team plans to verify in Friday practice at Istanbul.

Team principal Colin Kolles said the updates - to both the aerodynamic and mechanical aspects of the car - gave him hope of a good showing.

"I believe that the Turkish Grand Prix should see Hispania Racing take the next step," he said. "Istanbul Park is a track that, due to its nature, should be favourable for us. Add to that the fact that we have aerodynamic and mechanical updates for this race and I think that, if the data is confirmed on track, we should be able to beat our closest rivals.

"Our aim for the weekend is to close the gap with respect to our closest competitors in qualifying and fight for positions in the race, hopefully getting both cars over the finish line. Hispania Racing has made significant progress since the start of the season, we are working very hard to improve and definitely will improve.

"I think that, due to the tyre situation, we should see a very close race, anything is possible. In terms of speed, Red Bull is ahead but you never know what will happen."

Vitantonio Liuzzi added: "I think we should be in much better shape due to the updates arriving here in Turkey and after the time out on the track in the last few races. Every minute on the track is important for us.

"Our target for Turkey is to verify that our updates are working as per plan, closing the gap on the leader and obviously finishing the race ahead of our direct competitors. If everything goes to plan, I think Hispania Racing can surprise a lot of people by closing the gap considerably with respect to other teams, thereby showing how serious our intentions of growing are."