RED: Skoda messed us about.

RED Motorsport have said they could have given Skoda credibility in the FIA World Rally Championship - had they got the green light to run their WRC programme.

RED boss, Neil Gatt, told the official RED website it was a great shame Skoda decided to stick with their decision to pull-out, especially after several weeks of intense discussions and negotiations, which finally came to nought last week, when the Czech manufacturer confirmed their exit.

"This has been the most on-off projects I have ever worked on," Gatt told www.redworldrally.com. "After all our collective efforts it is a great shame that Skoda reiterated their wish that Skoda would not be represented at the highest level. The Red Bull team has been planned for some time based around young drivers, what we were trying to achieve [at RED] was to have a credible team with top drivers, with the aim of putting some pride back into the Skoda brand.

"Colin [McRae] showed what he and the car was capable of in Australia, only to be halted by a totally avoidable problem, not untypical of Skoda's season. With the skill and experience of Colin, RED and others, we firmly believed that it was possible to improve on Skoda's achievements and engender some passion and desire to continue in the WRC, with a long term aim of fighting for honours, but it was not to be.

"ISC [International Sportsworld Communicators] did a great job of demonstrating the worth that a credible programme could deliver, but the Skoda Board simply lacked the appetite after two seasons of poor performance."