[F1] F1 - Administrator becomes Caterham team boss | n7thGear™ Motorsport News

[F1] F1 - Administrator becomes Caterham team boss Oct 24, 2014 8:21:13 GMT -6

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Post by n7thGear™ on Oct 24, 2014 8:21:13 GMT -6

F1 - Caterham staff locked out of Leafield factory
"They are using my facilities and haven’t paid me"

Struggling Caterham in race to send cars to Austin

Oct 22

Caterham’s financial troubles appear to be deepening, as it emerges the struggling F1 team may have no cars to race at the forthcoming US grand prix.

Reuters reports that the green cars are scheduled to leave Caterham’s Leafield factory bound for Austin this weekend.

But the man appointed to oversee the administration of Caterham Sports Limited, reportedly a separate company to the F1 team but also based at Leafield, is warning he will not be releasing the cars amid a legal dispute.

It is the latest instalment in Caterham’s financial troubles following the sale of the struggling team by founder Tony Fernandes to a mysterious consortium represented by advisor Colin Kolles, of HRT and Spyker fame.

"My legal advice is that I own the cars and won’t be allowing the cars out of the factory until I reach an acceptable agreement," said Finbarr O’Connell, working for the administrators on behalf of unpaid creditors including Exim Bank of Malaysia.

The team, said to now be in talks with the administrator, insists the troubled Caterham-branded company is not associated with the team, while sources say Caterham’s F1 future is therefore not endangered.

But O’Connell hinted that the next step could be the team’s expulsion from the Leafield factory, which is already being guarded by private security on behalf of the administrator.

"We are allowing 1MRT (the team) to use our facility while we negotiate a settlement," he said. "They need to reach an agreement with us."

23 October 2014 -

Caterham’s crisis went from bad to worse on Thursday, as team staff found themselves locked out of the Leafield factory.

"They can’t get into the factory today," Finbarr O’Connell, the administrator now in charge of the facility on behalf a creditor, a Malaysian bank, told Reuters.

"They (the team) are using my facilities and haven’t paid me," he added.

Inside the locked up factory are the green Caterham cars that will not make the weekend deadline to be shipped to Austin unless an urgent deal is struck.

Earlier, team boss Manfredi Ravetto confirmed he is no longer running Caterham, following a statement that said former owner Tony Fernandes is in fact responsible once again.

Fernandes, who sold the team to a group of investors earlier this year, called Caterham’s explosive statement "rubbish".

O’Connell, meanwhile, suggested that while talks on Wednesday with the team’s existing management have failed for now, he also cannot rule out another party stepping in.

"It’s just a case of who has got the money to make it work," he said.

Quotes attributed to F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone earlier suggested F1 would be "better" without Caterham, but he told the BBC on Thursday he is trying to help.

"We’re trying to help in any way we can, which we do with anybody that has run into a bit of difficulty," he said.

"All I know is what I’ve been told. Not too sure it’s all true either.

"I’d rather not lose the teams," Ecclestone added.

UPDATE:
24 October 2014 - 14h54

The Caterham saga took another bizarre twist on Friday as an administrator became the new team principal.

With the gates at Leafield still locked and Saturday’s freight deadline for Austin now looming, the Colin Kolles-led management decided to step away from the beleaguered team.

In a statement, the team said it has agreed "to hand over management ... to the administrator, Mr. Finbarr O’Connell, in the higher interest of allowing the team to continue operating and preparing for the next events".

Asked by PA Sport news agency if that means he is now the team boss, O’Connell, working on behalf of unpaid creditors including a Malaysian bank, answered: "Yes, I think that is the case."

It appears likely the move is one of the last in the green-coloured team’s F1 history, with O’Connell now facing the unenviable task of keeping Caterham alive by somehow putting two cars on the US GP grid next weekend.

But when asked if he will be on the pitwall in Austin, O’Connell said: "I don’t rule anything out."

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[F1] F1 - Administrator becomes Caterham team boss

Post by n7thGear™ on Oct 24, 2014 8:21:13 GMT -6

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