Mystery team near unveiling

THE unveiling of an 11th Grand Prix team for next year could be less than one month away, Nick Fry, the team chief of its expected technical backer BAR-Honda, said last night.

Honda made it known that they have been asked to supply engines to a mysterious new outfit earlier this week, when they confirmed they have bought a 100% shareholding in the BAR team.

Fry said talks with the as yet unnamed outfit began more than two months ago and added: “It is going to be very difficult to do next year but we will try to do it and see what happens.

“Honda would not have mentioned this unless it was relatively credible and you don’t come out and say these things without a fair bit of activity having happened previously so I am sure the potential new team has done its homework.

“These are credible people with motor racing experience and the financial backing to do the job. We are not talking about an under-funded team here, and clearly they have convinced Honda, Bernie [Ecclestone] and us that this has got potential.

“I think there is a 65% chance that it will happen because if it was not that, we would not be saying anything.”

Fry refused to reveal the nationality of the company behind the new team, which is understood to have a strong grounding in motorsport and, due to the Honda link, has been rumoured to come from Japan.

He confirmed the agreement would be for the supply of an up-to-date V8 engine as well as technical support.

The deadline for applications to race next year is in mid-November.

BAR-Honda driver Takuma Sato, who will lose his drive to Rubens Barrichello next year, has been offered a race seat at the new team if it is given the go-ahead and BAR test driver Anthony Davidson could also join.