Arab investors step in to rescue Arrows

Arrows look to have been given a last-minute reprieve amid reports that the Formula One team have been bought by Arab investors.

A company called German Grand Prix Racing have taken a majority stake in the Oxfordshire-based team, according to reports in Italy. The buyers are said to be a front for a group of unidentified Arab investors who will keep Tom Walkinshaw on as the team principal.

The possible deal comes just days before Friday's deadline for Arrows to pay the £200,000 fee to enter next year's championship. The company are said to have bought out Arrows' main shareholder, the investment bank, Morgan Grenfell.

"They have bought more than 51 per cent of Arrows, but I cannot say how much in total," Oliver Behring, owner of Asset Trust partners, the holding company of German Grand Prix Racing, is reported to have said. "The acquisition comprises and now goes beyond the shareholding of the merchant bank Morgan Grenfell, which is now out of the picture."

Even if the fee is lodged with the sport's world governing body, FIA, by the deadline there is no guarantee that they will be given an entry into the championship. FIA will announce the successful teams in December but the fact that Arrows' cash problems saw them miss six of the last seven races last season could see them refused a place on the grid.

The governing body will also want to look into the question whether a change of ownership has brought about a change of circumstance. Arrows still have no main title sponsor, no engine supply and many members of the team have left. "We cannot comment on speculation," said a FIA spokesman yesterday. "It is a question of waiting for the entry deadline or 1 December when the entry list for 2003 is announced."

The German Dirk Müller has been rewarded for his strong performances in the European Touring Car Championship by being made a Formula One test driver for Williams-BMW.

Müller, 27 next week, will get behind the wheel of the FW24 at Barcelona on 3 December and will be joined in testing by Nico Rosberg, the 17-year-old son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke. Müller won three European Touring Car Championship races last year to finish fourth overall.

Rosberg, meanwhile, had a seat fitting at Williams's Grove headquarters last week ahead of his drive following his victory in the German Formula BMW ADAC Championship.