28/10/2004
NEWS STORY
British newspaper, The Guardian, is claiming that Jordan has "almost certainly" secured a deal to use Toyota engines in 2005.
The paper reports that the deal - which would cost the Irish team less than it was previously paying Cosworth - would see Australian Ryan Briscoe driving one of the Silverstone-based outfit's cars next year.
"Things are looking much more optimistic and we are now 99% certain that we will be on the grid for the Australian grand prix at Melbourne next March," said Ian Phillips, the Irish team's commercial director. "It has been a nerve-racking past few weeks but we're now looking forward to the future."
This would be a massive turnaround for Jordan, which had been dealt a number of harsh blows this year.
For a while it looked as though the Irish team might have found salvation in the form of a consortium which claimed to have the backing of Dubai's ruling family, indeed at one point several leading newspapers claimed that the deal had been done. However, the consortium then announced that it was to create a brand new team, an announcement which is understood to have taken Jordan - and indeed most of the paddock - totally by surprise.
On top of this, Ford announced its withdrawal from F1, leaving Jordan without an engine supply for 2005, the Silverstone team subsequently claiming that it only received seven-minutes advance warning of the decision.
A few weeks back, Toyota announced that it would not be in a position to supply customer engines in 2005, then in Brazil, last weekend, John Howett admitted that his company would be prepared to supply engines to one of the smaller teams - at an estimated cost of around £8m - however, he stressed the deal would need to be concluded as soon as possible.
On Sunday, Eddie Jordan, sporting the sort of grin we haven't seen for some time, revealed that he had received some positive news and that an announcement would be forthcoming.
It looks as though EJ was right to look so happy.
The team is in action at Barcelona from November 24, then at Jerez a week later.