Asiatech Decision Expected in Two Weeks Time

Asiatech plan to make a decision on their proposed full entry into Formula One in the next two weeks as speculation mounts over a potential buyout of the cash-strapped Minardi team.

Engine manufacturer Asiatech currently supply power units to Minardi, but have been frank in their admission that they are keen to have a full team in the sport by 2004.

It was revealed in Austria that Asiatech could even be in Formula One as a team next season, and a spokesperson said in the paddock in Montreal on Friday that an announcement could be made "within two weeks".

Minardi owner Paul Stoddart said on Thursday that one option available to him to save the Anglo-Italian outfit is for him to sell the team that he saved from extinction one-and-a-half years ago.

Stoddart has said that Minardi could be out of business before the end of the season if he does not receive the estimated £12 million in television revenue he feels is owed to his team.

The Australian businessman will meet rival team bosses at a Heathrow hotel in London on Thursday in an attempt to prove that his team are legally entitled to the pay-out following the collapse of Prost Grand Prix last year.