Sato to announce Jordan deal

Sato to announce Jordan dealBritish Formula Three champion Takuma Sato of Japan will join the Formula One Jordan-Honda team next season, a Honda official said Tuesday."Sato will hold a news conference on Wednesday and he will talk about his future plan," the official said as the Jiji and Kyodo news agencies reported that a deal had been sealed between the 24-year-old driver and the F1 team. Asked if Sato will announce his contract with Jordan-Honda, the official said, "You may well expect him to do so." Sato, who became the first Japanese to win the British F3 title when he marked his 12th victory of the season at Silverstone last month, has also been a test driver this season for the F1 BAR (British American Racing)-Honda team. He will drive alongside Giancarlo Fisichella for Jordan-Honda, ending French veteran Jean Alesi''s career with the team.It was not immediately clear if Sato would compete at this weekend''s season-ending Japanese Grand Prix at the Honda-owned Suzuka track. Sato drove a Honda-powered BAR F1 machine on Monday with Canadian Jacques Villenueve in a promotional event for the Japanese car-maker. "I still have a contract with BAR and I can''t talk about that now," Sato told reporters at that time about his possible graduation to F1. "It''s a matter of wait and see," he said.Sato will be the seventh full-time Japanese F1 driver and the first since Toranosuke Takagi''s two seasons from 1998. Sato''s full-time motor racing career started in 1997 after he honed his skills at a racing school run by Honda at Suzuka. He moved to Britain in 1998 and won four British F3 races for the Carlin Motorsport Racing Team last season.