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Gascoyne targets podium finishes by 2009

Friday 8th February 2008

Force India could be on the Formula One podium as early as 2009, according to the team's chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne.

The team launched their new 2008 challenger, the Ferrari-powered VJM01, at the Gateway of India on Thursday, hopeful of seeing improvements this season.

Gascoyne, though, has downplayed the team's chances of instant success, conceding that this year's targets need to be the occasional point and making it into the second qualifying segment on Saturday afternoons.

"We would need quite a bit of luck to score points in Melbourne. But our target is to at least get out of Q1 , which we never did last year," he said.

"Our long-term goal is big but you got to reach it in small steps. We have a good budget but we can't catch up with others overnight. Constant improvement is the key."

However, in 2009, the team's chief technical officer reckons that with a bit of help of the new regulations Force India could achieve their goal of a podium finish.

"With the current regulations for 2008, we are a long way behind. But the 2009 season is going to be really interesting. The engine freeze is going to be good for us but with the new chassis rules, we stand a real chance," he told the Hindustan Times.

"We plan to push aggressively for 2009, even at the expense of 2008. We have already started with the wind tunnel programme for 2009.

"Dr Mallya wants a podium by 2010, but if we can put more development in, we have a real chance for a podium in 2009."

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