Toyota Withdraws Hispania F1 Ties
Toyota appears to have ended a supporting agreement with F1 newcomers Hispania after the team reportedly did not meet Toyota’s contractual obligations.
‘TMG (Toyota Motorsport) regrets that HRT has not met its contractual payment obligations and will pursue all available options to reach a satisfactory conclusion to this matter,’ Toyota said in a statement.
However, HRT have responded with a statement saying: ‘Hispania Racing is very surprised about Toyota’s Press Statement released this afternoon and? this matter will be a subject of further clarification.’
Toyota Motorsport has acted as an engineering services supplier since its Cologne-based team withdrew from Formula 1 at the end of last year.
And Toyata added in its original statement that: ‘All cooperation with Hispania Racing F1 Team has been terminated and will not resume.’
‘Toyota retains all intellectual property rights to its current F1 car and is completely free to pursue other projects and support new customers for its high-performance engineering services.’
Williams has recently signed a deal with the F1 team Hispania for the next season to supply the newcomers with gearboxes.
Hispania were a late addition to the 2010 season grid but have not scored a point in 17 races and there had been doubts raised over their future before the announcement of this partnership.
