Williams to base test team in Spain

(GMM) British formula one team Williams is to base its test team near the Valencia circuit on the eastern Spanish coast, it is reported.

The newspaper Diario AS says an agreement has nearly been reached with the local authority, the Generalitat Valenciana, in exchange for giving young Spanish race drivers the opportunity to test Williams' F1 cars.

The first Spanish youngster tipped for a Williams test under the arrangement is 19-year-old Dani Clos, the 2007 F3 Euroseries driver who spent the recent Circuit de Catalunya test in the team's pit area.

According to AS, the exact location for Williams' test base is yet to be determined. "The intention is to accommodate the test team and thus save a lot of money on transfers" between Britain and Spain, the article explained.

Oxfordshire (UK) based Williams also explored the option of basing the test project at Circuit de Catalunya, but those talks did not reach a financial agreement, Diario AS added.