Super Aguri in desperate plea to Honda

[Shiba-Kun]

Super Aguri in desperate plea to Honda
Friday 22nd February 2008

Super Aguri team boss Aguri Suzuki flew to Tokyo on Thursday as he prepares to make a desperate plea to Honda to help save his cash-strapped outfit.

Super Aguri's future is currently on the line due to cash flow problems that led to the team having to withdraw from this week's Barcelona test.

It's not the first time this winter that the Japanese outfit has had to curtail their testing programme, leading to some speculation that the backmarker outfit may not make the grid for the season-opening Australian GP.

Suzuki, though, is determined to fight for his team and, according to the Guardian, is set to meet with Honda bosses to hold talks about Super Aguri's future.

With a reported three offers on the table to help finance Super Aguri, Suzuki needs to ascertain from Honda how much support they are willing to give his team this season.

Honda's answer could decide whether Suzuki will either take on sponsors for his team or consider a takeover of equity.

A decision is expected within the next few days

[95accordlx]

If only his F1 team was as succesful as his superGT ARTA team!!

[cloud7]

Honda just don't want Aguri's team beating its works team... that's why they are delaying funding to Super Aguri, therefore delaying the development of Aguri's car.

[Shiba-Kun]

Honda has a bunch of openwheel racing money tied up in IRL. I just think that's there's only so many ways to slice a pie. Aguri is tied to Honda for today, but as an affiliate SA shouldn't look to Honda to keep them afloat. It's just not financially reasonable. At a certain point, SA has to stand on it's own feet.

[95accordlx]

Originally Posted by cloud7

Honda just don't want Aguri's team beating its works team... that's why they are delaying funding to Super Aguri, therefore delaying the development of Aguri's car.

lol. For a few races last season SA did qualify better than the works team and i think even finished better in a race or two.

[Shiba-Kun]

^ Except that Sato gained points for Super Aguri in Spain & Canada which are both first half of the season races. In the second half when you hope/expect to see improvement, he ended up either retiring or finishing in the low teens. I can't recall if Sato had a good final race in Brazil. I think it was either him or Davidson that finished near a Top 10 spot, yet still failed to gain points in the season finale.