Arden in race to 'buy' Jordan?

Multiple FIA F3000 champion Arden International may have switched its Formula One attentions from Jaguar to Jordan, according to reports in the British press.

The Daily Telegraph claims that team boss Christian Horner has already met with Eddie Jordan to discuss purchasing the Irishman's eponymous outfit, which had been thought a target of the Dubai royal family. Indeed, a deal between Jordan and the al-Maktoum family had been expected in the week before the Italian Grand Prix, but talks appear to have stalled on what would have been a ?50million sale.

Any deal with Arden would require Horner to find a similar amount, but the purchase would be free of any debts accrued by Jordan and would allow the F3000 team to graduate to the top flight without having to find the bond required to guarantee its place on the grid. Horner had been linked to a similar deal with the ailing Jaguar team, but these rumours have lessened since others suggesting a major shake-up at parent company Ford would keep the F1 team 'in-house'.

Arden has become the dominant force in F3000 over the past few years, despite being started as a vehicle for Horner's own cash-strapped career. Since the Briton opted to swap driver's seat for the driving seat, the team has advanced up the FIA rankings, taking the teams' title for the last three seasons, and drivers' crowns for Bjorn Wirdheim and Vitantonio Liuzzi in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Tomas Enge also went close to the 2002 title, but lost out after he failed a drugs test and had points docked.

Horner has made little secret of his desire to move up to F1, particularly since FIA president Max Mosley suggested that the rules may be relaxed to allow new blood to join the current ten team circus. While proposals to do away with the $48million bond are now unlikely to be pushed through, Mosley remains keen to see existing teams sell year-old machinery to new entrants in order to bolster the grid. This would remove the need for new teams to design and build their own cars, saving on labour and technical costs, although outgoings would increase with extra transport costs for a bigger calendar and the need to test between races.

"My intention is clearly to move forward into Formula One and that route now has to be through an existing team," Horner told Reuters after the rumours had surfaced.

"When Max Mosley initially looked at getting rid of the bond, we were looking very seriously at trying to get an entry together to join the world championship, [but] now that the dropping of the bond looks unlikely, the only alternative is really through an existing team.

"We'd only do it if it's on the right terms though, for a long-term future."

An Arden deal with Jordan would not enlarge the grid, and neither would it allow the F3000 team to save on design and build costs, but it would allow Horner a way in and the Irishman a way out. Jordan has made no secret of the financial struggle his team has faced since their glory days in 1999, and apparently admitted at Spa that he would have no option but to close the operation down if a backer could not be found for 2005.

The proposed deal with the al-Maktoum family would have allowed Jordan to retain a minority stake in the team he brought into Formula One in 1991, but any agreement with Horner is expected to phase the Irishman out completely.