Stoddart Sure of Minardi Presence in 2005

Minardi are confident they will still be racing with Cosworth engines next year despite Ford's decision to sell the British-based company and pull out of Formula One.

"We have a contract with Cosworth for 2005 and are confident there will be a solution and that we will be running with a Cosworth engine in 2005," team boss Paul Stoddart told Reuters on Friday. "It may not be a Ford Cosworth engine but it will be a something Cosworth.

"Cosworth's had more lives than Minardi," he added. "I certainly don't think it's over until it's over."

Tail-enders Minardi announced last month that they had secured a deal to run the same Cosworth engines as Ford-owned Jaguar, whose departure from Formula One was announced on Friday.

Anglo-Italian Minardi, who scored their first point in more than two years at last June's US Grand Prix, have been using four-year-old Cosworth engines this season.

Australian-born Stoddart was confident about the future engine supply and his team's continuing presence in Formula One but was concerned that would-be sponsors might now sit on the fence until the situation became clearer.

"If there aren't 10 teams or even nine, you can rest assured Minardi will still be there," he said.