Honda exit pushes Jordan closer to Ford.
The Honda Motor Company has reached an agreement to end its Formula One engine supply contract with Jordan at the end of the 2002 season in order to concentrate on a sole partnership with British American Racing.
The move is not entirely unexpected, with Jordan having been linked to a string of alternative engine suppliers for much of the 2002 campaign. The announcement that the two parties have split is now expected to precede a deal between Jordan and Ford-Cosworth for 2003.
The Honda Motor Company has reached an agreement to end its Formula One engine supply contract with Jordan at the end of the 2002 season in order to concentrate on a sole partnership with British American Racing.
The move is not entirely unexpected, with Jordan having been linked to a string of alternative engine suppliers for much of the 2002 campaign. The announcement that the two parties have split is now expected to precede a deal between Jordan and Ford-Cosworth for 2003.
Jaguar team boss Niki Lauda, who also oversees the business operations of Cosworth, confirmed on Friday that Jordan had been offered a customer supply of powerful CR3 engines. However, according to the BBC, Jordan may still manage to land a multi-year deal to use 'works' engines, with the British broadcaster claiming that team boss Eddie Jordan expects to announce confirmation prior to the Hungarian GP.
The move, which is expected to see the yellow cars carrying Ford, rather than Cosworth badging, will pit the Blue Oval directly in competition with Jaguar, which has struggled to reach the heights expected of it since taking over from the Ford-powered Stewart team three years ago.
"We appreciate very much the two years that we have worked together with Jordan Grand Prix," Takeo Fukui, Honda Motor Company's senior managing director, said in announcing the split with the Silverstone-based team, "We will obviously continue to do our best for the last five races of the year.
"We'd like to give everybody at Jordan Grand Prix our best wishes for the future and look forward to some exciting racing during the 2003 season and beyond."
The Japanese manufacturer returned to Formula One in 2000 with an engine supply and joint chassis development contract with British American Racing. The following year Honda signed a deal with Jordan Grand Prix to supply Formula One engines. At the beginning of the 2002 season, Honda restructured its joint chassis development project, strengthened the internal Formula One structure within Honda R&D and extended its contract with British American Racing for a further three years.
It is not known how Honda's withdrawal from Jordan will affect the future of Japanese rookie Takuma Sato.
