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The fleet of Ferrari-engined A1GP cars has been purchased by a group aiming to start a series in South Africa later this year.



AFRIX Motorsport has purchased all 21 of the 'Powered by Ferrari' A1GP cars that contested the 2008/09 season, as well as their V8 direct-injection engines.



It is planning a short series of approximately four South African events in the European winter of 2015/16 ahead of an extended programme in 2016/17 that could include races elsewhere in Africa.



Alan Eve, who is one of three partners in AFRIX, told AUTOSPORT: "We are going to be running a South African series, at least for now, with a winter touch.



"We want to attract drivers from Europe and North America who want a bit of seat time during their winter."



Eve suggested that the cars would most likely be centrally run.



"The plan at the moment is to run the cars from under one roof," he said.



"But nothing is set in stone, and we could invite teams from Europe to run two or four cars each."



A start of the inaugural South African series, which has yet to be named, is planned for October or November this year.



Eve revealed that all 21 of the second-generation A1GP cars and their associated spares have already been shipped to the Johannesburg workshops of AFRIX.



"We are doing a bit of maintenance on the cars to get them back into running order; they are actually in good nick [condition]," he explained.



Eve said that AFRIX was currently evaluating options for an electronics package for the Ferrari V8s.



The sale of the fleet did not include the electronics to run the engines because the Magnetti Marelli ECUs and steering wheels had been returned to Italy when A1GP went into administration at the end of its fourth season.



"We are in the throes of making a decision on that," stated Eve.



Eve, who won last year's Selby Can-Am series in South Africa, is partnered by Neville Jordan and Greg Canny in AFRIX.



They formerly attempted to bring the cars that raced in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup of 2003-04 to South Africa after the series merged with World Series by Renault, and they were also behind plans for an A1GP support series to be known as A2.



They purchased the cars from freight company Delivered on Time, which had a lien on the A1GP fleet.



It went to court so that it could sell the A1GP assets rather than administrator Griffins.



It is believed that AFRIX paid in the region of £1.5 million for the 21 cars, their engines and spares.