Carlin confirm Formula One entry

The team, which last weekend celebrated their 100th victory with success in the opening round of the British Formula BMW championship, have made no secret of their ambitions to make the move into F1 in recent seasons.

Team boss Trevor Carlin was Jordan's sporting director for the start of the 2005 season but left the team after getting disenchanted with their financial situation.

That appeared to have put a temporary end to Carlin's F1 ambitions but, with new low cost regulations coming into force in 2008, Carlin have once again seen an opportunity to make the move.

"We believe that the introduction of the new initiatives by the FIA in regard to sporting and technical rule changes for the future of Formula One have been designed to allow successful junior teams such as Carlin Motorsport to make the previously difficult step up to Formula One," said Carlin in a statement issued on Tuesday night.

"The proposed cost reductions should bring the necessary budgets within our reach.

"We are well underway with building an appropriate infrastructure and have firm commitments from key people who are experienced in F1 design, marketing, management and operations. They will join us if our entry is accepted.

"We have also agreed the purchase of an established facility in the south of England, for design and specialist production and a composite facility near our base to handle the major workload.

"We realise that there is considerable competition for the entry and the team's credentials are our success in racing. We are confident that the requisite finance will be available from our existing contacts if the entry is accepted."

The team are set to join Prodrive, BCN Competicion, Racing Engineering, Eddie Jordan and Craig Pollock in battling for what could be just one vacant slot in the 2008 championship.

Carlin have helped a number of drivers on their way to F1, including Narain Karthikeyan, Takuma Sato, Anthony Davidson and Tiago Monteiro. The team won the 2001 British F3 title with Sato, the 2003 championship with Alan van der Merwe and the 2005 crown with Alvaro Parente.

Don't miss autosport.com's exclusive interview with Trevor Carlin in tomorrow's issue of the Weekly Journal