- Caterham
Caterham's assets put up for sale
Caterham's assets have been put up for sale by the team's administrators, ending its slim hopes of returning to the grid in 2015.
Administrator Smith & Williamson has placed crucial equipment, including its 2014 car, up for an auction sale commencing on March 11, four days before the opening race in Melbourne. The news comes just a day after former rivals Marussia announced it is on the verge of exiting administration in time for the opener in Australia.
The assets are being auctioned by Wyles Hardy & Co, with pit lane equipment, a race simulator and race and hospitality trailers among the listed items on its website. The impending auction does not guarantee a return is impossible - rivals Marussia cancelled one of its own last month - but does suggest hopes of saving the beleaguered team have been abandoned.
Caterham went into administration in October and missed races in the United States and Brazil as a result. It returned for the 2014 finale in Abu Dhabi thanks to a crowd-sourcing initiative which saw it race thanks to the fund-raising effort of fans.
It was thought such an initiative would be the best way to attract possible buyers but that was not the case, despite Smith & Williamson's Finbarr O'Connell's defiant statements just last month that the team could still be saved. The team joined the grid in 2010 but failed to score a point in its tenure in Formula One.
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