05/03/2006
NEWS STORY
Days after his team completed its pre-season shakedown at a snowy Silverstone, Aguri Suzuki officially launched his team to his 'home' media in Japan.
Talking to reporters at Saturdays 'launch' in Tokyo, Suzuki said: "My team might be small but I want to quickly turn it into one that is competitive at the highest level.
"I want results in the near future," he added.
The team will start the season with the 2002 Arrows A23 designed by Mike Coughlan, a new in-house designed car will appear sometime around the start of the European F1 season.
Lead driver will be former British F3 Champion, Takuma Sato, who has had a difficult time in F1 since he first entered (with Jordan) in 2002. Though there's no doubting his raw pace, the Japanese driver seems to have more than his fair share of incidents.
"It's a new challenge and I hope to use my experience to the full," he said at the launch.
Sato, dropped by Honda (BAR) in favour of Rubens Barrichello, is supported by Yuji Ide, who will make his F1 debut in Bahrain, having only just qualified for his superlicence. At the first two rounds of the championship, former Renault tester, Franck Montagny, will fulfil the role of third driver, taking part in the Friday free practice sessions.