Dallara Won't Build Midland's Car

Dallara had been drafted in late last year to build the first prototype Midland test car due to run later this year, as well as the challenger that the team hope to have on the grid for the start of the 2006 season.

But following the Midland takeover of the Jordan team, and rumours of friction between Midland bosses and the previous head of the Dallara project Gary Anderson, it has now been decided that the 2006 chassis will be built in Britain.

"With Dallara we'll carry on with an aerodynamics consultation deal, based on a daily 18-hour usage of the wind tunnel," said Midland's Colin Kolles in Autosprint.

"The news is that the 2006 Midland car won't be built by Dallara in Italy anymore, but it will be built in England, directly in the Jordan factory.

"The initial plans have changed because we realized that, having bought out Jordan, we have everything we need to design and build a car in house. The project will be developed in two wind tunnels; Jordan's and Dallara's."

Jordan are planning a major overhaul of their EJ15 in time for the French Grand Prix, in the hope of allowing the team to respond to the progress of rivals Minardi and move up from the back of the grid.

Kolles added: "We aren't happy with the current results, but let's not forget that on  January 23rd, when we bought out Jordan, it was a bankrupt company.

"There was nothing, just four chassis and many previous debts. We paid everyone,  Toyota, suppliers, to build new parts. The current car is the result of  this emergency. In France a heavily modified car will debut, and our performance will sensibly improve."

There is speculation that Jordan's former sporting director Trevor Carlin's decision to quit his position with the team was fuelled in part by the decision to change plans over the use of Dallara.