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Caterham F1 looks to online investors for funding

Tony Fernandes in Time’s list of world’s most influential

The Caterham F1 team has turned to online investors with hopes of racing again in Abu Dhabi and beyond after the team founded by AirAsia boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandes went bust last October.

The team, which was sold off by Fernandes in June – an act which subsequently saw him involved in a bitter ownership row last month – is trying to raise £2.350 million (about RM12.48 million) by November 14 under the #RefuelCaterhamF1 project.

Companies and fans can donate to the team at the Crowdcube website www.crowdcube.com/caterham, pledging any amount.

The racing team will reward fans and sponsors in the latest attempt to be the driving force behind the team after it went into administration.

Rewards include a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get their names on the Caterham F1 car competing in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, according to statement by Crowdcube's public relations consultant yesterday.

The effort to raise funds precedes a bitter ownership row between Fernandes and the team's new management who said afterwards that the AirAsia boss had never completed the transfer of shares of the company to them.

“In June 2014, I decided, together with my co-shareholders, to sell my stake in the Caterham F1 team. We agreed in good faith to sell the shares to a Swiss company named 'Engavest' on the basis that Engavest undertook to pay all of the existing and future creditors, including the staff.

“The continued payment of staff and creditors was so important to me that I ensured that the shares would not be transferred to the new buyers unless they complied with this condition," Fernandes told the British Skysports.

Fernandes said Engavest failed to comply with any of the conditions in the agreement and Caterham Sports Ltd (the UK operating company of the F1 team) had to be put into administration by the bank, with large sums owed to numerous creditors.

Caterham Sports Limited administrator and interim Caterham F1 team principal Finbarr O’Connell said the team was working non-stop to get back in the race.

The first step was Abu Dhabi, he said, and hopefully that would be a stepping stone to getting the team back to racing on a permanent basis under new ownership.

"In order to achieve that, one of our most useful, innovative and effective options right now is crowdfunding.

"We want to get as many sponsors and fans as possible involved this week and make our comeback something we can all be part of," he said, adding that the team deserved a future.

O'Connell said if the team did not reach its target via the crowdfunding platform by next Friday, the pledged funds would be returned.

“But right now, we are hopeful for the future of the team and we are confident that the team showing the world that it can race again will lead to a bright future under a new owner on a proper financial footing.”

Administrator legal adviser Mike Stubbs said the initiative represented “another advancement in the ever growing list of rescue options if you are prepared to think laterally”.

Crowdcube chief executive officer Darren Westlake said it was "fantastic" for the crowdfunding company to support the Caterham team.

"This is a unique opportunity for motorsport fans to be directly involved in the sport they love, getting behind the team and playing a part in powering them onto the grid – even putting their name on the car," he said.

Caterham, after Fernandes's exit, missed the recent grand prix race in the United States. It is also out of tomorrow's Brazilian grand prix.

It was reported that the new owner of the team is a consortium headed by Romanian dentist Colin Kolles.

Over a week ago, Fernandes reportedly hit out at Formula 1 and blasted F1’s big teams like Ferrari and Red Bull over the sport’s crisis as two teams – Caterham and Marussia – went into administration.

The Daily Mirror also reported critics as saying “too much of the prize fund is sucked up by the sport’s leading names like Ferrari and Red Bull”.

They said that while both teams got at least £80 million (RM424.76 million) golden ticket just for competing, the tail-enders were trying to do an entire year on a totally unsupported £40 million (RM212.38 million).

However, Fernandes denied that he would step in to save the team, which has 150 jobs on the line.

He reportedly said it was time for the sport to take a long hard look at itself.

“People can blame whoever, but the big teams are as much at fault as anyone. The gap has become way too big and it’s money.

“And so I thought, ‘Well, I can’t compete'. But I can compete at QPR (Queens Park Rangers), I can compete at Air Asia,” he was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror.

Elsehwere, BBC Sport reported yesterday that the other troubled F1 team Marussia, which went into administration last month, had ceased trading.

Marussia had been in talks with two potential investors, but when a deadline passed yesterday with no funds transferred, the team folded.

Over 200 people are losing their jobs. – November 8, 2014.