Super Aguri are to face a critical meeting with the Honda board in Japan next Tuesday, where the Japanese manufacturer will decide whether to accept the Weigl Group offer or to pull the plug completely on the team.
And although Fry, Honda Racing's CEO, has said he is sceptical of the new offer being strong enough, Weigl has insisted that he has the finances, backers and long-term ambition to make a success of his tie-up with Super Aguri.
"I am very optimistic for the meeting, because I believe Honda see the same as me - that it is necessary to keep private teams in the Formula One business," Weigl told autosport.com in an exclusive interview. "We want to find a consistent solution with Honda, because otherwise the team has no future."
Fry was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that he did not think Weigl had the necessary financial backing to make a success of a takeover of Super Aguri.
He said: "It would appear unlikely that a company the size of Weigl is able to support a competitive Formula One team, unless of course there are other partners of which we have not been made aware."
Weigl has hit back at those comments, claiming he does indeed have investment partners and a solid long-term plan to support Super Aguri as he questioned Fry's motivation in making those remarks.
"Mr Fry will get a surprise if we do manage to do it," said Weigl. "I think he should be happy that he has a private team behind him, and I think they (Honda Racing) could also have some support and advantage with Super Aguri.
"I don't understand why he is working so strongly against Super Aguri being able to survive. I don't understand because he will also benefit from us being there."
Weigl, who has said his plan is to continue with customer Honda engines, has made it clear that having financial backers was key to him getting involved.
"I would not go along to risk my name and my business," he said. "I have investor partners because otherwise I could not do it.
"We have a partner who is interested in the F1 business. It is an investment group and the package is clear - we want to have Honda, then investors and then my input, including technology, that we need to make a new car for 2010. It is a serious bid, and it will allow Super Aguri to survive for a long period of time."
Weigl will not travel to Japan for the Honda board meeting, but says that there will be no problem in getting the cars from Britain to Turkey in time for next weekend's race if they get the green light.
"My offer is laying on the table and Honda can say yes or not. I have no influence over that now. I hope that they, and Mr. Fry, will agree that Super Aguri can survive."
No comments:
Post a Comment