Hispania team owner José Ramón Carabante has set the HRT outfit a bullish target, one of which he is confident in achieving come the fifth round of the championship.
The Spaniard believes a new upgrade planned for their home race in Barcelona will see them move ahead of both Virgin Racing and Team Lotus.
Ths, despite not qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, following a dreadful pre-season in which they only managed a couple of kilometres.
“We did eleven laps with Liuzzi [in Melbourne]. If he had done 20, he would have qualified,” Carabante told radio Cadena Ser.
“Getting within 1.7 seconds [of the 107% rule] without driving hardly at all is a miracle.
“[The upgrade for Spain] will be enough to be ahead of Lotus and Virgin,” he exclaimed. “Last year, we were in a worse condition than now and we ended up ahead of Virgin with twice our budget, and behind Lotus due only to one accident.”
The team will run a new front-wing in Malaysia next weekend, an upgrade they had planned for Australia, however a failed crash test meant they had to revert to the 2010 spec wing – the team believe this is the reason they failed to qualify at Albert Park.
