World Touring Car Championship racer Javier Villa has suggested that he is keen on a future drive in Formula 1 with Hispania Racing, but added that it is 'too early for anything concrete'.
In a story published by the Spanish sports newspaper AS, former GP2 driver Villa was mentioned as part of plans by Thesan Capital, the investment company who purchased the Hispania team earlier this week.
With one priority to make the team 'more Spanish', the report suggested that the team will enter talks with Villa, with a view to a race drive for next season.
Villa wrote in Spanish on his Twitter (@JaviVillaWTCC) yesterday evening about the speculation.
“With regard to all the news published today, I must say we are very happy with our current program in the WTCC with BMW,” he said.
“Obviously I would love to be Hispania’s first Spanish driver, but we must know more as it is a new project. The project of Hispania is new over the past few days. It’s too soon for anything concrete.”
He finished by saying: “It’s certainly something we would hope that could be carried out.”
After two seasons in the Spanish F3 Championship, Villa raced in the GP2 Series for four years from 2006, winning three times. He has since moved on to the World Touring Car Championship, racing a BMW for Proteam. He lies ninth in the overall standings and third in the Yokohama Trophy, scoring an overall podium at the Hungaroring.
The AS report said that in the longer term the project would focus on Carlos Sainz Jr, the 16-year-old son of the former World Rally Champion. A member of the Red Bull Junior Team, Sainz Jr made a strong start to his single-seater career in Formula BMW last season and is currently second in the Eurocup Formula Renault standings.
