French police impound BAR's cars [updated].

The position of the B.A.R-Honda team and their ability to race this weekend has been thrown into doubt at the Magny-Cours circuit in France today [Thursday], after French police impounded the teams' cars.

The gendarmes raided the paddock this afternoon, before issuing a warrant and seizing the cars.

A spokesperson for the French police, told Reuters: "We've seized some equipment and impounded the cars. We don't exactly know the legal problem but a court will rule on the case in emergency session tomorrow [Friday] and decide whether the cars are allowed to race or not."

Pasquale Latteneddu of Formula One Management [FOM] was on hand to ensure things were carried out in a calm and correct manner.

B.A.R meanwhile are said to currently be seeking legal advice but at present the situation at the track doesn't look good. All B.A.R's tyres - normally stacked outside each team garage, have been returned to Bridgestone and all the bodywork normally stacked outside each garage has been brought in under lock and key in the B.A.R garage.

The situation is connected to that which first became public knowledge at the Monaco Grand Prix at the end of May. Then the B.A.R team confirmed that France Corbeil, of a company named SAM Partnership Production Group International [PPGI], had obtained a court order to seize three of the team's grand prix cars.

According to the team, Corbeil's claim - amounting to around $3 million - stretches back five years, to when the fledgling B.A.R operation was sponsored in part by Teleglobe, but it was only earlier this year that the current management team were made aware of the situation, when Corbeil forwarded a demand for commission based on the sponsorship arrangement.

B.A.R issued a statement at the time insisting that it believes Corbeil's claim to be baseless. Furthermore, the team was under the impression that, when the claim was first presented to the Monaco courts prior to the Monte Carlo race, it was rejected.

The claim was apparently re-presented with additional information on Wednesday 28th May, immediately prior to a national holiday weekend when all the courts are closed. As a result, the team was not made aware of the action and did not have any opportunity to respond. Judge Philippe Narmino then granted Corbeil a seizure order in a private capacity - i.e. without the assistance of the court or the police - that would allow him to lay claim to three of the current BAR-Honda 005s as soon as the Monaco race weekend was over.

The matter has now escalated though, with the scenes witnessed today at Magny-Cours proof of that.

Team boss, David Richards is now at the scene, and is in deep negotiations with the officials and police, they have returned to the team motorhome, which hasn't been impounded.

Official notices are now plastered on the doors of the B.A.R trucks.

A statement from the team has yet to be released.