Jordan will start 2005 season

"We haven't submitted our entry yet, but we will do so before Monday's deadline," said a Jordan spokeswoman on Friday.

Team boss Eddie Jordan visited China last week and it is believed a deal to secure a customer Toyota engine supply at the cost of $US7m per season with the backing of a major Chinese consortium is on the verge of being finalised.

Autosport sources believe that Toyota was happy to agree a deal because the new-for-2005 long-life engine regulations might otherwise have required it to build less engines and may have led to staff lay-offs. The Japanese manufacturers' team test driver Ryan Briscoe could well switch to the Jordan team as a race driver although this is not considered to a stipulation of the agreement.

Jordan team insiders report that the mood in the factory has shifted significantly in the last few weeks and that there is now genuine optimism among the staff.

"If we've got a budget, decent engines and a car designed by Mark Smith [Jordan's newly-appointed technical director] we should be in pretty good shape," said an Autosport source.