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Teixeira made Honda bid

A1 GRAND Prix boss Tony Teixeira said yesterday he had been until recently talking to Honda about acquiring the Japanese manufacturer's Formula One team.

"I was one of the guys talking to Honda in the last two weeks," the South African told the Autosport Website.

Honda announced in December it was pulling out of F1 due to the financial crisis.

Virgin Group boss Richard Branson has expressed an interest but a management buy-out now looks the most likely route, other than closure, after Honda said on Monday it had received various offers but no serious buyers.

Teixeira has been interested in Formula One in the past to promote his "World Cup of Motorsport" that runs mostly during the European winter.

He said last year he had scrapped plans to buy a team after the sport changed the rules to ban the use of so-called customer cars.

Teixeira said with cost-cutting measures likely to make the sport far more affordable to new entrants from 2010, his interest had revived although the credit crunch had scuppered any immediate plans.

"Today I'm in a completely different situation," said the A1 chairman, whose series uses single-seater cars.

"I've built my own cars and designed my own chassis. I have my own factory. So I'm not a customer boss. I can now build my chassis and run with a Ferrari engine. I'm now the same as everyone else.

"The only reason we want an F1 team is for the winners of A1 to go to F1," added the entrepreneur, who talked to Spyker in 2007 before it became Force India and also made an approach to Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso last year. "But, because of the times, I cannot commit myself to this year's budget."

Teixeira said he had bought land near the Algarve circuit in Portugal that could be used as a base for his series as well as any future F1 team.





 

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