New investor gives vd Garde Spyker hope.

Giedo van der Garde's thinking in switching his allegiance from Super Aguri to Spyker in the build-up to the new Formula One season may have become a little clearer with the announcement that Dutch investor Marcel Boekhoorn has taken a financial stake in the latter's road car company.

Spyker Cars has confirmed that Boekhoorn has acquired a 5.7 per cent interest in the company and, while the investor's name may not mean much in F1 circles, his involvement carries a lot more weight when it is revealed that he is van der Garde's prospective father-in-law. Boekhoorn is already a major shareholder in Dutch mobile phone company Telfort, which ahs backed van der Garde's efforts in the junior categories to date.

At present, the announcement will have little effect on the make-up of the Spyker F1 assault, as van der Garde has yet to granted the all-important superlicence that would allow him to take part in a race weekend, but the team's phalanx of test and reserve drivers may be set for a shake-up should the paperwork come through. While race drivers Adrian Sutil and Christijan Albers should be safe for this season - especially as Albers is married to Liselore Kooijman, daughter of Spyker F1 board member Roel Kooijman - the combination of a superlicence and 'family' funds could yet see F3 Euroseries midfielder van der Garde edge closer to his F1 dream.