(Florent Gooden DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
The Caterham F1 Team may still be on grid for next weekend's season finale in Abu Dhabi despite the fact that the Leafield based outfit look set to miss out on their target of raising the £2.35 million needed for them to run both cars at the Yas Marina circuit.
Administrator Finbarr O'Connell has revealed that the team are in in talks with potential investors who say they would be willing to support the team with the final £0.5 million if the outfit can get to £1.8 million through their crowd funding initiative which began last week and with just over 24 hours to go has seen fans pledge £1,344,810 which is 57% of the money needed.
Speaking to the Telegraph on Thursday afternoon Mr O'Connell stated:
'I don’t want to take the drama away but it could be that we get close with fans’ donations and then it is topped up by some serious investors. We are trying to sign contracts which will fill a big chunk. I still strongly believe we will be racing.'
Even if the team do not reach their target by close of business on Friday it is a massive achievement for over £1 million to have been pledged in the space of a week.
Lotus F1 Team Chairman Gerard Lopez has slammed the idea of crowd-funding saying:
'It's a one-off [the crowdfunding] and I think it's sad. If you think about what it's being used for. Formula 1, which is a $1.6billion business, and distributes over $900million, and we're being asked if crowdfunding is a good idea to bring a team back.
Seriously? Then it's even more disastrous than I think it is, in terms of ethics.'
© Ben Johnston 2014
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