Asiatech goes under?

Left without a Formula One contract by Minardi's supposedly impending deal with Cosworth, the Asiatech engine company has joined fellow French-based operation Prost Grand Prix by going into liquidation during 2002.

Asiatech goes under?

Left without a Formula One contract by Minardi's supposedly impending deal with Cosworth, the Asiatech engine company has joined fellow French-based operation Prost Grand Prix by going into liquidation during 2002.

A brief statement issued by the company claimed that it had ceased operations as of the end of October, while various reports confirm that its factory in Velizy has been shut down. The British arm of the operation, at Didcot in the country's motorsport heartland will follow suit in the coming weeks. The company blamed a lack of finance necessary for development for its plight.

"Because of a lack of funds guaranteed for the continuation of its activity, Asia Motor Technologies France SAS, ceased its operations on 31 October 2002," an official statement explained.

The move is a complete turnaround in fortune for the Franco-Asian concern which, having got wind of Paul Stoddart's desire to land Cosworth power for 2003, pushed out plans to launch its own team for the following season. Even as recently as the season-ending Japanese GP at Suzuka, Asiatech appeared to be on course for a sabbatical year designed to allow it to reach the grid in 2004, before a brief statement appeared to give the first hint of trouble.

"After bids to acquire a controlling interest in Jordan and Benetton were rejected, Asiatech concentrated on developing its racing engine while supporting two teams through the free supply of a factory engines," it read, "At the same time, Asiatech was preparing its F1 racing chassis in Didcot, Oxfordshire, the wind tunnel model of which was displayed at Monza this season.

"The Asiatech programme was technically ahead of schedule and ready to race its proprietary, co-designed engine/chassis/power train package in 2003 (only its third season in Formula One). However, problems with its previously firmly guaranteed funding have prevented it from moving on to this second phase of the programme."

Asiatech arrived in Formula One to take on development of the former Peugeot V10 engine after it was ditched by the French concern. Although the company boasted John Gano and Enrique Scalabroni as its paddock presence, its owners remained shrouded, with technology giant Sony rumoured to be heavily involved.

Asiatech's first F1 engine was a barely modified version of the old Peugeot but, with improved reliability, allowed Jos Verstappen, in particular, to put up some good showings in the usually mid-grid Arrows A22. When Arrows switched, ironically, to Cosworth for 2002, Asiatech appeared to be on the verge of dropping out of F1, until hooking up with Minardi - and scoring points in the season-opener in Australia. Since then, however, top six finishes have been hard to come by and, with Stoddart's intention to take up a supply of customer Cosworths in place of paying for Asiatechs in 2003, the company looks likely to disappear completely.

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