KTR pulls out of Formula Renault 3.5

KTR had missed all three pre-season tests and team boss Kurt Mollekens conceded this week that it will not make the grid this year.

"I decided at the weekend that it wasn't going to happen after several meetings with drivers on Friday had not developed as I had obviously hoped for," Mollekens told AUTOSPORT. "It's only bad news, there's nothing much to add.

"In my opinion, we offered a good financial deal and strong technical package - we were offering the drive for under 500,000 Euros. For a long time I had been pretty happy and remained confident, but what we were offering was not good enough. I can't take drivers like some other teams can for 200-300,000 Euros.

"At the end of last year we tested [Miguel] Molina and I felt we were unlucky not to hang on to him as he had a great relationship with our engineer, but he had a better offer elsewhere. We had a bad season last year but we had 20 good ones before that. Unless we get a miracle phone call by the end of the week, we won't be competing."

Mollekens hopes to be able to return to the World Series next year and is also considering options such as Formula Renault 2.0 and the new-for-2010 GP3 series.

"The factory, trucks and everything will be kept in place. I will follow the World Series closely and also investigate other options. We need to see if GP3 is open to non-GP2 teams and if it is going to have a future. F3 is also getting serious and very expensive to compete in."