Risatti's hopes shattered

Argentinean driver Ricardo Risatti announced that he will not drive in this year's GP2 series, as his talks with BCN Competición are officially stalled, due to funding issues. 20-year old Risatti, who is the reigning Spanish Formula 3 champion, was confirmed in the 2007 lineup of the Barcelona-based team one month ago, alongside Sakon Yamamoto of Japan.

A BCN statement said: “Due to the failure of Risatti in raising the total budget needed to participate in the 2007 GP2 Series, and because of the negative response of the South American and European companies, his managers and the BCN team have decided as of now to stop any contractual negotiation."

Ricardo 'Caito' Risatti is a fourth generation race driver from Cordoba, Argentina. His grand grandfather, also named Ricardo Risatti, was an established local racer in the mid 30s. The youngest racer in the family switched from karting to single-seater racing at 14 years of age, racing in the Light division of the South-American Formula 3 championship, later spending the last four years in the Spanish F3 series. He already tested for BCN at Barcelona and Paul Ricard earlier this month, but will have to look for a drive elsewhere.

Fellow Argentinean and former BCN Competición driver José María López is in the frame to fill the second race seat at the Spanish outfit with less than a month before the season opener in Sakhir, Bahrain. The second race seat at BCN is the last one to be filled, after Italian team Durango confirmed Indian driver Karun Chandhok, who clocked impressive times in various GP2 test sessions.