Jordan admits he would consider selling

Eddie Jordan has admitted that he would consider selling Jordan Grand Prix, but only if it was the best way to help the team progress. Jordan also admitted something he had previously denied: that he had been in preliminary talks with Red Bull boss ...

Eddie Jordan has admitted that he would consider selling Jordan Grand Prix, but only if it was the best way to help the team progress. Jordan also admitted something he had previously denied: that he had been in preliminary talks with Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz earlier this year, although the talks were only tentative and never went anywhere.

"There were figures of between ?30million and ?50m being talked about but they never came to anything," he told UK tabloid The Sun. "The most important thing to me is trying to win races again and, if that can only be achieved by me losing ownership of the team, it would not be an issue. I always look at what is best for the team."

Giancarlo Fisichella, Eddie Jordan and Ralph Firman with the Jordan EJ13.

Photo by Jordan Grand Prix.

Even if the team did end up belonging to someone else, Jordan would still want to be involved in the running of it: "If someone else took it over -- and these days it does appear you need to be part of a car manufacturing group to win -- I would still like an involvement." He said.

"I would want to be like a football manager and have a contract for a couple of years, so I could help steer the team to the very top. If I didn't perform, they could boot me out."

However, Jordan is not about to give up fighting for his team and believes there can be race victories in the future: "I do enjoy being a privateer and going out to find the funding which will allow us to prosper because, in my heart of hearts, I still believe we can win races in the near future," he explained. "If I didn't feel that, I would stop."

"Damon Hill helped us win our first race in 1998 and the following year Heinz-Harald Frentzen won two and finished third in the championship. We can repeat that success."

Jordan and Minardi are the two private teams that seem to be in the most financial difficulty currently but Eddie Jordan is confident his team is not about follow in the wake of the bankrupt Prost and Arrows teams. "People have been saying for the past three years we would be the next team to fold but I've given up worrying about that. We are the Artful Dodgers of the pit-lane. We are the greatest survivors of of all-time who will always be able to spring a few surprises."

As for 2003, Jordan knows exactly what he's aiming for: "We have a great engine, B & H are back to where they were which all adds up to one thing -- we are going to do a bit of ripping this season."