Super Aguri: We have lodged bond.

The Super Aguri F1 team has confirmed that they have lodged the $48 million bond required to compete in Formula One this season.

A spokesperson for the team told Crash.net that while they were hoping to hear something over the weekend of January 13, they now hope their entry will be officially confirmed very soon.

"The bond was indeed lodged and we are waiting to hear from the FIA," the team replied when asked if they had in fact managed to put together the finances necessary to secure their entry.

"With the legal teams working in both France and Japan, we were hoping to hear over the weekend January 13, but we now hope to hear this week."

Super Aguri announced in December that they had secured the approval of the ten other teams to compete in the sport, something that was need after they missed the FIA's November deadline to deposit the bond. Further more while the FIA announced earlier this month that their entry would be rubber stamped as soon as they had received the bond, nothing has yet been officially confirmed.

A spokesperson for the FIA told Reuters on January 5: "The FIA has received official notification that all the competing teams have approved the late entry of Super Aguri to the 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship. We have also been informed that the required financial guarantee will be presented to the FIA early next week [i.e between January 9-13]. A formal announcement of the new team's entry will be made on receipt of the guarantee."