TOKYO -- Former BAR driver Takuma Sato
is expected to command the wheels of a top car from the Super Aguri team
in the 2006 Formula One championship, the team's partner said Friday.
The FIA, the sport's governing body based in Paris, said Thursday it has
accepted the Japanese Honda-backed team -- the Super Aguri -- making it
the 11th team to compete the new season opener in Bahrain on March 12.
Super Aguri is backed by former driver Suzuki Aguri. He became the first
Japanese driver to stand on the F1 podium in 1990. Super Aguri becomes
the first all-new Formula One team since Toyota Motor Corp. in 2002.
"Final negotiations are still under way, but Sato will probably drive in
the team's number one car," said Fumio Akita, Suzuki's partner of 18
years, said from Tokyo.
Akita said the team is also making final negations with several other
drivers from Japan, Europe, and North American.
"Following receipt of the financial guarantee and unanimous support of
the competing teams, the FIA has accepted the late entry," the FIA said
in a statement.
"It's like our dream coming true finally," Akita said of the FIA's
acceptance of the team's entry, when it was posted on the FIA's website
late Thursday.
The team would be based in Tokyo, but its factory would be at the former
Arrows headquarters in Oxfordshire, England.
EX-BAR Honda driver Sato became the only Japanese since Suzuki to win a
place on the podium, when he won in the U.S. grand prix in 2004.
Honda, Japan's third-largest automaker, also owns the BAR F1 team.
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