The Super Aguri team admit their presence at next week's Spanish Grand Prix is in doubt after the collapse of a planned rescue deal.

Potential buyers Magma Group pulled the plug on their takeover earlier this week and the cash-strapped Japanese team could now miss next week's race.

"It's possible," Super Aguri co-owner Fumio Akita told Reuters on Friday. "We were banking on Magma's buyout but they turned it down. It feels like being jilted by a lover. (Insert Max Mosley Joke here - Ed SCS)

"Even if we have the money to go to Spain we might not be able to carry on after that. It's impossible to predict what will happen but it could now depend on Honda."

The survival of the team now looks likely to rest on the goodwill of backers Honda.

Honda may be reluctant to provide more funding, however, having said only recently that they would scale down support for former driver Aguri Suzuki's team after the initial announcement of the Magma deal.

Super Aguri, whose main driver is popular Japanese Takuma Sato, have effectively operated as Honda's B-team in their two years in Formula One and the two teams have adjoining garages this season.

But Super Aguri, who barely tested pre-season due to financial constraints, have not joined the other teams in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya this week.

Team sources said the cars and transporters were due to leave early next week for the first race of the year in Europe after the opening three long-haul rounds. Free practice starts on Friday.

"I don't think there will be a decision until after the weekend," Akita said. "It is likely to be Monday or Tuesday until we hear. It will be very, very tight."

Sources at the team's Leafield factory in Britain said they were acting as if it were business as normal until told otherwise.

"We are still preparing the cars to go to Barcelona and are still planning to be there," said one source, who declined to be identified.

The tail-enders, who have the smallest budget in Formula One but have a strong fan base in Japan, finished ninth of the 11 teams in the 2007 season. Sato and Britain's Anthony Davidson have yet to score a point this year.

Source: Autosport.com

dan this is not good for SUPER AGURI or any SUPER AGURI fans (yes i am a fan of SUPER AGURI) i dont see Honda helping them much at all expecally after how much SUPER AGURI embaressed Honda last year

i can see SUPER AGURI making it to Spain... but not running in any session other than doing installation laps..... then doing the race....

this is not a good image for the sport.... weve had 1 team go through 4 owners and 4 name changes in 4years (Jordon - Midland - Spyker - Team Force India) and now the team formaly knonw as Minardi(SUPER AGURI) who have only been in F1 2years are struggling bigtime cause of $$$ problems....

it just reminds me of an old joke
Q: how do u make a small fortune in Formula 1??
A: start with a large one....

Aguri dispatch transporter to Barcelona

The Super Aguri team have dispatched the first of their transporters to Barcelona for next weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, while remaining optimistic that a financial package can be put in place to overcome the collapse of their planned rescue deal.

Team co-owner Aguri Suzuki confirmed on Wednesday that potential buyers Magma Group pulled out of their takeover bid, leaving Super Aguri short on budget and unclear whether they would have the funds and the spares to compete in Barcelona next weekend.

But a source inside the team told Autosport on Friday that Suzuki remains locked in talks with alternative backers and that he had made 'some steady progress, but was not out of the woods yet.'

Super Aguri's long-term future is likely to remain in doubt until at least early next week, and it seems likely that Honda will be asked to subsidise the team until a new financial package can be put in place.

"I don't think there will be a decision until after the weekend," Super Aguri co-owner Fumio Akita told Reuters on Friday.

"It is likely to be Monday or Tuesday until we hear. It will be very, very tight."

Suzuki agreed a deal with Magma before the start of the season after Honda indicated over the winter that it was no longer prepared to fully fund a B-team in Formula One.

With regulations set to come in to force insisting on teams designing and constructing their own chassis from 2009 onwards, Suzuki set about looking for alternative backers to give the team full independent status.

But Super Aguri's on-track competitiveness has been badly affected by the Magma takeover, with the team completing minimal pre-season testing during the build-up to the Melbourne season-opener.

Since then Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson have been running on limited mileage, and were told to protect the cars over GP weekends to save spares, which are in short supply.

Super Aguri were the only team not present at this week's massive pre-European season test at Barcelona.

Source: Autosport.com

id love to be on there test team

lol yeah u get payed to do nothing.....