According to a report in the Italian media, 2011 F1 grid hopefuls Durango are in discussions with Toyota over acquiring their 2010 car design to use in the 2011 season, if their application is chosen by the FIA to take the 13th grid slot.
Durango raced in GP2 until 2009, when financial problems forced them to withdraw from the series. However, earlier this year the team lodged an application for the 13th and final grid slot in F1 for 2011. Team boss Ivone Pinton claimed to have backing from "two very big international groups" to assist in financing the bid.
The team faces challenges from a number of other teams for the final spot, including Stefan GP, Epsilon Euskadi and fellow GP2 veterans ART Grand Prix.
And according to the Italiaracing website, Pinton has confirmed to them that he is in negotiations to acquire the 2010 Toyota design, which broke cover last week in a brief Toyota test with Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel.
Racecar Engineering magazine captured shots of the car, which features an attention-grabbing spoon-like nose and an 'aggressive' diffuser design.
The car would have been raced by the Japanese team in F1 this season before they pulled out of the sport instead, and the same design was set to be used by Stefan GP should they have successfully inherited the 2010 grid spot vacated when USF1 collapsed.
According to Italiaracing's report, Pinton is planning to acquire the designs for his own team for 2011. How much of an advantage it would be, however, remains unclear. The design would not be legal under the 2011 regulations, with double diffusers banned, and would need heavy modifications for next season should Durango be given the grid spot.
The report also claimed that one of the two backers Pinton bragged about when announcing the team's F1 bid hails from Russia.
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