Pedro de la Rosa will be able to take part in the first day of action for the Australian Grand Prix, after HRT managed to get his car ready in time.
The Spanish squad requested a delay to scrutineering of the car until Friday morning while it worked on completing the second chassis that will be used by de la Rosa this weekend. Although that delay prompted speculation that the team could miss the chance to run in FP1, a team spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the car was complete and had passed scrutineering.
However, it is understood the team wishes to make further preparations to the car prior to letting de la Rosa out on track, which means he could be delayed getting out until later in first practice, or even for FP2.
HRT had to break the curfew in order to get the car ready, so has already used the first of its four exceptions for the season.