Durango eyes Toyota car for 2011 F1 bid

The former GP2 team Durango is in talks with Toyota about acquiring its 2010-specification formula one car.

It emerged last month that the Italian outfit, who pulled out of GP2 due to financial problems, has lodged an application to be F1’s thirteenth team in 2011.

According to the Italian source Italiaracing, Durango boss Ivone Pinton has confirmed he is in talks with Toyota.

Upon withdrawing from F1 at the end of 2009, Toyota offered its two complete 2010 chassis to hopeful new entrants including USF1 and Stefan GP.

The TF110, later renamed S-01 while rented by the unsuccessful Serbian entrant Stefan, was recently run by Toyota with Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel.

In naked carbon-fibre and with a front end resembling elements of the Red Bull and BMW-Sauber cars, photos of the car were published by Racecar Engineering magazine.

Pinton said recently that "two very big international groups" are backing Durango’s F1 bid, and Italiaracing reports that one of them is from Russia.