Arrows to be saved by Audi?

The Arrows Formula One team, which has been struggling to secure its future, looks set to be purchased by Audi.

Sources close to Crash.net have exclusively confirmed that a deal could be signed very soon and that the remaining staff at the Leafield-based outfit have been told that an agreement is very close to being secured.

Audi has competed in sportscars recently, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours three years on the trot with Emanuele Pirro, Tom Kristensen and Frank Biela. The works-supported Joest team has also won the American Le Mans LMP900 drivers' and teams' championships the last three years but, with news that they will not be entering a works Audi team at Le Mans in 2003, a move to F1 seems highly likely.

True, there maybe some truth in the fact that parent company VW will be concentrating on sister brand Bentley at Le Mans next year, but there is also some speculation that the ALMS effort will also be cut back, perhaps with only one semi-official car.

The Arrows deal would thus make sense to Audi, in terms of continuing to develop the brand, and where better to do this than in Formula One.

Arrows had a dismal 2002, with financial problems first becoming public prior to the British Grand Prix in July. They last raced at the German Grand Prix on July 28th.

Tom Walkinshaw's outfit missed six races in total this season - although it did 'attempt' to qualify in France, albeit although without much effort - and the outfit also appeared in Belgium, albeit for only the first day before returning to base after advice from its lawyers.

Since September 10th, when the team escaped a winding up petition in a High Court in Leeds, there have been no official statements regarding the current state of affairs.

The last concrete piece of news on the team came back in October, when a spokesperson for the outfit confirmed to Reuters that an out-of-court settlement had been reached with the Inland Revenue.

Reuters also reported then that a source close to the team was still hopeful, noting: "The employees are at home waiting for their instructions and there are a large number of people working hard to sort things out."

As of yesterday, Crash.net tried to contact the team for an official statement, but a spokesperson for the outfit refused to comment.