29/11/2006
NEWS STORY
Super Aguri managing director Daniel Audetto has admitted that his team will probably use components from Honda, as the Japanese team exploits the same legal loophole that allowed Toro Rosso to run a modified version of the Red Bull RBR1, which was itself essentially a Jaguar.
Talking to reporters at Barcelona on Tuesday evening, the first of three days of testing at the Spanish track, Audetto admitted that although design of the SA07 will be managed by his team: "There will be more collaboration from Honda. In fact, the engineers are the same engineers from Honda.
There will also be more collaboration from Tochigi," he added, referring to Honda's Research and Development facility. "You can see already that we have more support. Therefore, we are looking forward to having a much better car for 2007.
"With the support from Tochigi we constructed a monocoque and assembled it in Leafield, though there is an external consultancy firm involved in the process," he revealed.
The rules state that teams may not use components to which a rival team owns the intellectual property rights. However, if the components are manufactured by a third party the rules can be circumvented.
On Tuesday, Davidson, making his Super Aguri debut, finished eleventh quickest, splitting the two Renault's. Though this does not suggest that the Japanese team will be challenging for wins next season - this was the French team's first day on Bridgestone rubber - it does confirm the pace shown by Takuma Sato in Brazil, when he posted the ninth fastest lap of the race.