Japanese GP Honda preview

For the final race of the 2001 Formula One World Championship, Honda and its partner teams, Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda and Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda, head to the manufacturer's home race at Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. Suzuka Circuit was built by Honda 40 years ago and was the first full-scale race track in Japan. It exists thanks largely to the enthusiasm for motor sports of the company's founder Soichiro Honda, who always maintained that racing is indispensable for automobile development.

Both Honda's partner teams will be hoping to score crucial world championship points at Suzuka this weekend, in order to secure their positions in the 2001 Constructors' World Championship. The fight for fourth place will be intensely fought between the two Honda-powered teams and Sauber, the three teams having been closely matched all season. For some of the drivers the race will hold a personal significance. This will be Jarno Trulli's last race for Jordan Honda after two years with the team, and the Italian will be particularly keen to build upon his performance at the US Grand Prix, where he finished fourth on the road, before he joins Renault in 2002. Trulli's compatriot, Giancarlo Fisichella, will drive for Jordan Honda next season, renewing his relationship with the team from 1997.

B.A.R Honda confirmed in July that Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis will continue to drive for the team in 2002. It will be Jacques Villeneuve's fourth consecutive season with British American Racing and Olivier Panis' second. Like all other teams, B.A.R Honda will be aiming for a strong result at the Japanese Grand Prix to springboard the team into a winter of intensive testing and a solid start to the new season.

As part of the build up to the Japanese Grand Prix, B.A.R Honda's Jacques Villeneuve and test driver Takuma Sato will drive their F1 cars through the streets of Tokyo as the highlight of Fuji Television's F1 Super Run on Monday 8th October. They will be joined by former Japanese Formula One stars Satoru Nakajima and Aguri Suzuki, who will be behind the wheel of a Honda RA300 1967 F1 and a Reynard 308 Formula Nippon car.

Honda is also staging the Civic Challenge Cup at Suzuka, the last ever round of the 2001 Honda Civic One-make race series after 21 years of the championship, which will be held before the Grand Prix on Sunday. The top eight drivers from each of the five regional races held in Japan during the year have been invited to compete. 40 Honda Civic Type-Rs will line up on the grid for the final Civic One-make race, as next year it will be replaced by a similar series for the Honda Integra Type-R.