Sato Staying at BAR in 2005

Japan's Takuma Sato will continue to drive for BAR next season, the Formula One team said on Tuesday.

Sato, gearing up for his home Grand Prix at Suzuka on Sunday, is eighth in the Championship with 26 points after equalling the best race performance by a Japanese in Formula One with third place at the US Grand Prix in June.

The 27-year-old, who has a year to run on his contract and was always expected to stay with BAR, has scored points in four of his last five races.

Team boss David Richards hailed his sixth place in China from 18th on the grid last month as "perhaps his best drive to date."

Sato's teammate next season has yet to be decided, with BAR and Williams both claiming to have Briton Jenson Button under contract. The sport's Contract Recognition Board is due to decide the dispute at a hearing in Milan on October 16.

Honda-powered BAR are second in the Constructors' Championship, nine points clear of Renault with just the Brazilian Grand Prix remaining after Japan. Sato joined BAR as a test driver in 2003 after an accident-strewn year racing for Jordan.

He stepped up to the full race drive a year ago when he replaced Canadian Jacques Villeneuve at Suzuka in what was then the last round of the season.