Minardi win qualifying battle
Minardi will take part in qualifying tomorrow after Paul Stoddart won a court battle to run his 2004-specification cars.
Australian Grand Prix stewards earlier told Minardi they would not be allowed to compete unless they upgraded their cars to comply with 2005 rules.
Stoddart's response was to order his team to begin work on their cars while he rushed to Victoria's Supreme Court to argue against the decision.
He returned to Albert Park today in happier mood than he left after obtaining an injunction which allows his team to practice and qualify tomorrow.
At 2.15pm Australian time, 3.15am in the UK, Stoddart will return to court to argue that Minardi should be allowed to run their 2004-spec cars in the race itself.
The Australian said: "We've got the injunction. I've got to be very careful of what I say for obvious reasons.
"It allows us to participate tomorrow using the 2004 car and there'll be a hearing at 2.15pm at the Victoria Supreme Court to decide about Sunday."
Minardi did not take part in either of today's two practice sessions after stewards ruled that they could not allow cars to compete if they did not comply with technical regulations.
Stoddart eventually managed to get unanimous approval from all nine rival teams to run a 2004-specification car this weekend but ran into difficulties with the technical rules.
Race stewards acknowledged the agreement of other teams but insisted it was "inappropriate and unacceptable" for Minardi to race with cars which did not meet 2005 technical rules.
A statement from stewards explained their position.
It read: "It is the view of the stewards that it is inappropriate and unacceptable to alter the technical regulations with which all competitors comply in order to suit the individual needs and requirements of one competitor.
"It is the decision of the stewards that for the Minardi F1 team to participate further in the 2005 Australian Grand Prix, their cars must comply with all requirements of the 2005 FIA Formula One sport and technical regulations."
