TWO companies at the heart of Oxfordshire’s successful motorsport industry have applied to join the sport’s elite on the 2010 Formula One grid.

Both Prodrive of Banbury, which employs about 500 people and has a £100m annual turnover, and the new Brabham Grand Prix team at Leafield Technical Centre — once home to former F1 teams Arrows and Super Aguri — have applied to the FIA, the sport’s governing body, for coveted places on the new 13-strong grid.

Winners and losers are due to be announced today, but the race for places is mired in contraversy.

The FIA has imposed a spending limit of £40m on teams entering the 2010 championships.

Prodrive chief executive David Richards said: “The level of next year’s cost cap has risen substantially since we originally considered entering. However, everyone appears committed to major reductions in future years and we are confident that we now have the opportunity to be both commercially viable and competitive.”

Brabham declined to discuss details of its F1 project ahead of today’s FIA announcement. The team is backed by German entrepreneur Franz Hilmer, who already owns motor-technology firm Formtech, based at Leafield.

He is understood to have bought the rights to the famous Brabham name, though the family of three-times world champion Sir Jack Brabham, now 83, says they are considering legal action over their name being used for the team.

In a statement, they said: “The family are taking legal advice and will take necessary steps to protect their name, reputation, and their goodwill.”

Williams F1 at Grove, near Wantage, and Force India, based at Silverstone, are the only two teams to have accepted the £40m cap.

The other eight teams on the 2009 grid, including Renault at Enstone and Brawn at Brackley, have joined FOTA (Formula One Teams Association).

Its members have refused to sign FIA contracts which stipulate that no more than £40m should be spent on car development in 2010.