The beleaguered Super Aguri F1 team will at least attempt to make the grid for next weekend's Turkish Grand Prix, having confirmed that preparations for the race are underway.

Despite rumours suggesting that talks with Honda about possible funding for the team have stalled, the Leafield-based operation has despatched its transporters to Istanbul, with the first part of its workforce due to follow.

"Unfortunately, as per Aguri-san's statement, we are unable to comment [on the rumours]," a spokesperson told Crash.net, "However, I can confirm that the trucks have gone to Turkey and the first set of the team flying out for the race leave on Sunday."

SAF1 representatives met with technical partner Honda in Tokyo on Wednesday but, according to Reuters, were not able to reach a positive conclusion that would confirm the team's presence on the grid for the remainder of the season. However, with the national Golden Week holidays apparently meaning that key personnel were absent from the meeting, SAF1 principal Aguri Suzuki is scheduled to meet the full management team early next week.

The team's confirmation that its trucks had 'gone to Turkey' is not sufficient evidence that it will be racing at next weekend's fifth round, however, as all team's tend to despatch their transporters directly from the preceding race to Trieste, in Italy, for the ferry crossing to Istanbul. In the past, this has seen them travelling from Germany but, in 2008, the circus left Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya en masse for the trip around the Mediterranean coast and into northern Italy.

However, the Reuters report claims that the SAF1 transporter arrived without its usual payload, with a source from within Honda's 'works' team insisting that the SA08s piloted by Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson had arrived back at its Brackley base.

Super Aguri's future was thrown into doubt by the collapse of a investment deal involving the UK-based Magma Group, which was thought to be acting on behalf of Dubai International Capital. Various suggestions have been put forward as to why the arrangement that had appeared to save Formula One's smallest team fell apart but, whatever the truth, it left SAF1 on the brink of collapse for the second time this season.

While team boss Suzuki did his best to remain upbeat in interviews conducted over the Barcelona weekend, he knows that the team is relying on the intervention of a financial saviour beyond either Honda or F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, who claims to have been helping the team over the past couple of weeks.

Earlier this week, German automotive engineering company Weigl said that reports linking it to a possible rescue bid were both premature and wide of the mark, while many potential suitors that were circulating at the time of Magma's intervention now appear to have disappeared, including India's Spice Energy. Honda has already insisted that it has no plans to extend its support of the team beyond the technical partnership it currently employs.

Swiss magazine Motorsport Aktuell reports, however, that the team may be engaged in negotiations with Spaniards Alejandro Agag and Adrian Campos, who were linked to a possible involvement before the 2008 campaign. Although their interest appeared to wane as talks went on, it would appear that they are preparing to come back to the table with one eye on forming a possible Spanish entry to capitalise on the increased profile of F1 in their homeland and tap into the wave of drivers coming through the GP2 and World Series by Renault ranks.

Telefonica and Repsol, both of which back Campos' GP2 rival Racing Engineering, are rumoured to share the tandem's belief in a national F1 presence.