 Senna has yet to take the Campos F1 car out on track |
Campos edged closer to lining up on the grid for the opening race of 2010 in Bahrain after a buyout which also saw Colin Kolles named as team boss. Spanish businessman Jose Ramon Carabante, who set up the team in partnership with Adrian Campos, has become the majority shareholder. Former Force India team principal Kolles will reprise that role at Campos as well as becoming managing director. The team are understood to wish to find a role for Campos, a former F1 driver. BBC Sport learned earlier this month that the team were struggling to find the required budget for their debut season in F1. The team were understood to be behind on their payments to Italian race-car constructor Dallara. However, Carabante is confident that his buyout will be enough to secure Campos Meta 1's place on the starting grid on 14 March.  | 606: DEBATE |
"The whole rescue operation has been a race against time with the goal of always having the team run two competitive cars at the first grand prix," he said. "We have a lot of hard work still ahead of us but we are excited about making our F1 debut and looking forward to a competitive season. "I would like to thank (F1 commercial supremo) Bernie Ecclestone, who worked tremendously hard to support our efforts to keep the team viable." Kolles first entered F1 in 2004 as team principal of Jordan, following the team's sale to Alex Schnaider, and held the same role at Force India, which Jordan morphed into, until the end of 2008. "I could not resist this tremendous challenge and am very excited to join forces in this new team," said Kolles. "Over the next 10 days we will review the entire operation, find the extra funding to ensure the team will make the first race in Bahrain, announce the line-up for 2010 in due time and make the operation viable under Jose Ramon Carabante's new ownership." Campos have already signed Brazilian Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late triple world champion Ayrton, but have yet to sign a second driver. The team have not yet fired up their 2010 challenger whereas fellow newcomers Virgin Racing and Lotus F1 have already joined in multi-team testing in Jerez. There has also been increasing speculation that USF1, who are also among the four new 2010 entrants, are struggling both financially and with the technical development of their car.
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