As teams, press and fans arrived in Brazil for the final Formula Virtual race of the season, North Star Racing shocked many in the paddock by announcing that the 2023 Brazilian V-Prix was to be their last in Formula Virtual.
The Scotland-based team are said to have been struggling financially in more recent seasons, as Magna International drastically scaled back their involvement following the disappointment of the 2021 season, where the team fell from 4th in the standings the previous year, to a lowly 13th behind even then-newcomers Arrow. While fortunes seemed to have been improving in the 2023 season so far, with back-to-back podiums for Brock Kidd in Italy and Turkey, money problems were intensifying behind the scenes, according to team principal Nick Forrest, and it is understood that a winding-up petition is currently being prepared by Tay Finance Group, which would see the team placed into liquidation and their assets sold off in early 2024. "It's not the news that any of us wanted to hear," Forrest told gathered media outside a sombre North Star motorhome. "The 2024 regulation changes looked like a chance for us to get back to a more competitive position, and we've been working as hard as we could to find a solution for our financial situation, but things have gotten to the point where we just can't afford to design and develop a whole new car for next year. Even the 07B is only a modified version of our 2022 car, so in hindsight the signs have kinda been there for a while that we were in real trouble." Despite the team's imminent closure, Forrest was optimistic about the prospects of their drivers. "Brock and Hector [Draper] are some very talented guys, along with Carl [Sandholm], and I'm sure they'll be able to carve out a good racing future for themselves, I'm aware Brock's already been snapped up for next season, at least," "The guys I feel for the most, though, are all the men and women back at the factory in Perth, who've got families to support, mortgages to pay, and we've done our best to look after them throughout this, but sadly it's had to come to an end. They've been just as instrumental the successes that we've had, however, and in making this team what it has been. I have to give thanks to every single one of them who's worked there over the past eight years, and I wish all of them the best of luck wherever their careers take them next." North Star Racing are coming into their final weekend sitting 7th in the Constructor's standings on 50 points, just 2 points ahead of Ingram in 8th.
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