Following USF1's inability to make the grid in , the FIA opened a new selection process to find an additional team to occupy the empty slot, as well as possible reserve entrants for the event of other withdrawals. Fifteen entry bids were reported to have been received, including ART Grand Prix, winners of several championships in feeder series; previous 2010 applicants Stefan Grand Prix and World Series by Renault team Epsilon Euskadi; and a joint effort by World Champion Jacques Villeneuve with Durango, the former Italian GP2 team that had encountered financial difficulties. However, the number of applicants declined, as ART Grand Prix and Cypher, the renamed USF1 operation, withdrew their entries, and the FIA decided ahead of the 2010 Italian Grand Prix that none of the prospective entrants met the minimum funding or engineering requirements, leaving the grid slot vacant.