Stefan GP boss, Zoran Stefanovic has confirmed rumours that his team were in talks with struggling new-comers, USF1, over a possible merger but admitted that USF1 shareholders had “sabotaged” any chance of a deal.
“Yes, it is true we had some discussions, but these broke down completely on Thursday afternoon European time due to the inflexibility of certain players,” Stefanovic said. “I stress it was not Chad Hurley, [he] was open to discussions with us.”
Stefan have also confirmed that the their second car is due for completion on Tuesday with a media launch planned for Wednesday, although the car will not be sporting Bridgestones after the tyre manufacturer refused to release rubbers to the team – instead, the car is expected to be sporting AVON tyres.
Rumours that Sefanovic’s team are in talks with Jacques Villeneuve over a race seat with them have also been confirmed as true. The 1997 world champion is set to have a seat fitting for the team in Cologne on Monday, AUTOSPORT has reported.
Stefan GP, owned by Zoran Stefanovic, are still pushing for a grid slot for the 2010 season and The F1 Times reported on Saturday that the team had released a copy of their delivery note as proof that cargo has been shipped to Bahrain, the location of the season’s first race.
Rumours of the teams drivers have been circulating for months and it was confirmed in February that former Williams driver, Kazuki Nakajima, had been signed as the team’s first driver.