Court Sends Volvo and Garry Rogers Motorsport to Mediation
Friday, October, 21, 2016
A federal court recently told Volvo and Garry Rogers Motorsport the two will need to sort through their legal differences in court-ordered mediation. The dispute concerns custody of Volvo S60 racecars and engines beyond the current 2016 season.
Garry Rogers Motorsport considers the ruling a win for the company and sent out a positive message through one of its social media accounts, stating “We had our first listing in the Federal Court on Friday where orders were made by the judge regarding the completion of legal steps.” The company further called the judge’s ruling a “window of opportunity to resolve the matter this year,” and truly believes mediation will be the best path to resolution of the issue.
According to Garry Rogers Motorsport, the company has been trying to negotiate with Volvo over the issue since the problem arose in May when Volvo announced it would exist Supercars at the end of the current season. They had earlier indicated there would be an extension of the program.
Garry Rogers Motorosport wants to be allowed to use the Volvo hardware for the 2017 season, even though the brand’s performance arm wants to bring the cars and engines back to Sweden once Volvo officially withdraws from the Supercars. The reason Garry Rogers Motorsport wants to continue using the cars and engines is because of a lack of time to be able to make other arrangements. The 2017 season kicks off in March, and the company claims they will not have enough time to find an alternative to Volvo. It hopes mediation will allow the two companies to work out a deal for 2017.