Super Aguri expected to confirm Sato soon

"I'd be absolutely amazed if it doesn't happen," Sato's manager Andrew Gilbert-Scott said on Monday of the contract negotiations.

"Things are moving forward, maybe not necessarily as fast as we would like, but something could be possible this week and Taku's intending to be over for a seat-fitting soon.

"We are very confident but at the moment there are still a few things to agree on," he told Reuters after returning from a trip to Japan.

Sato lost his drive with BAR, now the renamed Honda team, at the end of last year. Japan's most successful driver is the top target for the new Honda-powered Aguri team, who could have an all-Japanese line-up.

Super Aguri said in a statement that the team's driver line-up would be announced shortly.

A spokeswoman said the team, who have now recruited a staff of 88 people at their central English factory, would undertake a private check of their car's systems on Feb. 14 at an undisclosed location.

"It will not be Silverstone and the car that will run will look nothing like the one we will take to Barcelona," she added.

The first proper test, less than three weeks before the start of the season in Bahrain on March 12, will be at the Circuit de Catalunya from Feb 21-23.

The team will then carry out a further shakedown test at Silverstone on Feb. 28.

"We're on track and the crash testing is going well," added the spokeswoman, who said the team could try out several drivers at the Barcelona test.

Super Aguri plan to race with four-year-old Arrows chassis, bought from ex-Minardi boss Paul Stoddart, for at least the first three Grands Prix before bringing out their own car when the championship returns to Europe in April.

They face a race against time after the governing FIA confirmed only last month they had been accepted to the championship as the 11th team.