Aguri unlikely to hire full-time reserve
Super Aguri have said that they are unlikely to appoint a full-time reserve driver this year after Honda blocked plans to release James Rossiter for the role
Aguri had been in discussions with Rossiter about the job, but the Honda young driver was not given the necessary approval to take on the role. Honda preferred for him to concentrate on his World Series by Renault activities this year.
Following the news of Honda's veto on Rossiter, Aguri have subsequently asked whether they could have access to Honda's own reserve driver Anthony Davidson if any of their current drivers were unable to race.
The team are still awaiting a decision on that front and, if the approval is not forthcoming, then they have admitted that they are unlikely to chase anyone else.
Aguri's managing director Daniel Audetto said: "We have had some discussions with Honda that we could use Anthony as our reserve, because we don't have a Friday driver.
"The priority for him would obviously be if Rubens Barrichello or Jenson Button had a problem, but if they didn't and we did then we would want to use Anthony as our reserve driver. They have not agreed on that request though."
Audetto said that if Honda declined the Davidson request then the team would most likely just call on available Friday drivers from other teams to fill in for them if there was a problem, rather than appoint a designated reserve like Franck Montagny, who they used at the first two races of the season.
"It is always wise to have a reserve driver, but there are many drivers available on a Sunday who have finished their job on a Friday, so it is not such a big problem.
"We will not bring any more anyone like Montagny. The reason to bring Montagny was because it was the first race for Yuji Ide, and we were not sure about him in case he was not fit or fast. In the end he did a quite reasonable job.
"To have a good driver like Montagny to mess around was frustrating for him and us, and also a cost. For a small team to have a reserve driver is a luxury. Of course we would prefer to have a Honda driver, but if Honda think for whatever reason it is not possible then we will not have our own reserve driver."
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