HRT absent and Lotus packs up early as Barcelona test ends

HRT was absent as the four-day Barcelona test concluded on Monday.

The Spanish team, having already sat out the recent Jerez session, was at the Circuit de Catalunya earlier this week, running drivers Narain Karthikeyan, Tonio Liuzzi and Giorgio Mondini.

Blick newspaper in Switzerland, however, reports that 30-year-old Mondini – from Geneva – is not really in contention for the vacant race seat alongside Karthikeyan.

“The Swiss simply bought the 32 laps for around 200,000 (Swiss) Francs ($211,000),” the report read.

And Mondini admitted: “It’s been two years since I raced competitively and physically I could really feel it.”

Hispania is yet to launch its 2011 car.

Also mainly absent on Monday was Team Lotus, whose Jarno Trulli crashed the green T128 an hour into the session.

The team had to pack up early due to not having the relevant spare part to repair the damage.

“It (the crash) was not his fault — it was caused by a car failure,” confirmed technical boss Mike Gascoyne.

© RIF | GMM