By the end of 2012 rumors said Team Aon expands to a three car program in the
FIA World Touring Car Championship. Big names from the Touring Car circuit like Fabrizio Giovanardi are linked to the team. With the financial support of Ford and the money which seems to be in the background, allowing the team to develop a Ford Focus S2000 car from scratch, nobody questions the future of the program, although the season that just ended produced mixed results.
January 2013, the cars just returned from Macau. Another rumor dealing with the team from Littlehampton echoes through the ether:
The team closes! Not long after the first motorsport websites published this news, it was confirmed that Ford stops its support because of the current economical climate and that Arena International Motorsports closes down.
With Ford I don't want to experience the scenario, that we had with Volvo in 2011. That's what WTCC supremo Marcello Lotti
said in July 2012.
Volvo
In 2011 Polestar Racing entered a Volvo C30. Polestar was experienced with WTCC. Since 2007 they had been entering Volvo C30s with alternate fuels for selected races. Volvo announced the team would compete for an evaluation season, which eventually turned out to be a success in the eyes of the media.
Volvo announced to give a press conference during the summer break. Later this press conference was moved back to the Race of China weekend. Although rescheduling a press conference is not regarded as a good sign in the motorsport business, it, in a way, made sense: Chinese Geely International Corporation has been owning Volvo since 2010.
However a big question concerning the future of Volvo in WTCC was the choice of car as the production of the C30 was scheduled to end in 2012. If Volvo wanted to use WTCC as a platform for its products, they definitely wouldn't continue with the C30. First thoughts for a new set of rules for 2015 were mentioned, but would a manufacturer continue with a car, they are no longer selling for three years?
Meanwhile the Guia Race arrived and still no sign of a press conference. Robert Dahlgren crashed hard during qualifying, ending the season early. It took until February 2012 for the official announcement that Volvo decided against WTCC. Insiders say that Volvo planned to continue but the plans were stopped by the Chinese owners. The same sources report that Volvo's TTA program was started to strengthen and focusing Volvo on its Swedish home market.
Ford
Back to Ford. Arena has worked as an independent team. Ford basically offered financial and technical support to the team and commissioned the engine, with plans to re-enter WTCC with a full manufacturer program based on Arena's work. In 2005 Ford already had a brief WTCC involvement with German team Hotfiel Sport, best remembered for Michael Funke's roll in race 1 of the support races for the Spa 24 hours.
Like for Single Seater team Carlin Motorsports, the owner of Arena is the Capsicum Motorsport Group, which also produces the limited edition Ford Focus WTCC road car. The Capsicum Motorsport Group is run by Grahame Chilton, vice-chairman of Aon PLC. It was surprising to hear that financial issues are the reason for the team's closure, as with the ownership structure no one thought money could be a deciding factor.
Grahame Chilton is father of 2012 Team Aon driver Tom Chilton, who might return to BTCC, where he raced between 2002 and 2011. His team mate James Nash singed with bamboo-engineering. Tom's brother
Max Chilton meanwhile was promoted from GP2 to Formula One, where he starts for Marussia in 2013.
The newest development is the restructuring of the team. According to
TouringCarTimes, the team's headquarters are moved to to a business services firm based in London. There is still a slim chance to see the team on the 2013 grid. It is understood the three Focus could be entered by a different team in case Arena doesn't return to business.
