REVEALED: BCN on F1 hopefuls list.

Spanish GP2 Series team BCN Competicion is among the eleven hopefuls to have submitted an entry application for the 2008 Formula One world championship, Crash.net can reveal.

The squad, owned by former Williams, Ferrari, Peugeot and Asiatech designer Enrique Scalabroni, is among the 22 teams that have submitted an entry for the new era of F1 proposed by FIA president Max Mosley, having submitted its entry by last week's 31 March deadline.

Despite only being formed a handful of years ago, as Scalabroni switched his attention to the old FIA F3000 series in advance of the start of GP2, the Spanish outfit has established itself as a useful competitor, without having yet been able to build on the success achieved by Enrico Toccacelo in chasing Vitantonio Liuzzi to the final F3000 title in 2004. The inaugural GP2 campaign proved to be a struggle for the Barcelona-based team, despite the pace shown by Ernesto Viso and Hiroki Yoshimoto in pre-season testing, as unreliability plagued both drivers in the opening half of the year.

This year, the squad has taken on reigning Champ Car rookie of the year Timo Glock to partner Yoshimoto, and has not shown so prominently in testing, but should be included among the pre-season favourites in what could be an open championship.

Scalabroni has made little secret of his desire to return to the top flight, particularly with his own team rather than as an employee somewhere else, but could face stiff opposition if he is to succeed this time around.

With all eleven current F1 teams having applied for an entry, it is expected that just one spot will remain on the grid - despite McLaren boss Ron Dennis suggesting that the series by open to anyone who wanted to compete. Current favourites to complete Mosley's vision of a twelve-team field are David Richards' Prodrive operation and proposed teams from former Minardi F1 owner Paul Stoddart and erstwhile BAR boss Craig Pollock. Japanese luxury goods firm Direxiv has also confirmed that it has lodged an application, most likely to run with help from McLaren.

Direxiv's involvement in the chase is a little ironic for BCN, as the company supports Yoshimoto's GP2 campaign among a growing motorsport involvement, and could be run in conjunction with GP2 rival DPR, which is overseeing the company's entry in the new-look Formula Nippon series.

Other GP2 and World Series by Renault teams are expected to be revealed as potential entrants, with reigning GP2 champion ART Grand Prix thought to be leading the way. Others from the two feeder series, such as Carlin Motorsport and Piquet Sport, could also appear on the list, which is due to be announced at the end of the month.
Multiple F3000 title-winner Arden is not thought a major candidate, however, following team owner Christian Horner's involvement with Red Bull Racing.

All prospective new teams are due to meet with the FIA on 10 April, less than 24 hours after BCN completes the opening round of this year's GP2 championship in Valencia.