`Assorted problems are rising`
Japan`s new Formula-One team Super Aguri on Monday forecast a fairly tough start for their first season, while Honda Racing F1 Team showed confidence in getting off to a flying start.
"Since we launched the team in a short period, assorted problems are rising and there are many things that should be solved," team boss and former Japanese F1 driver Aguri Suzuki told a joint news conference with Honda Racing F1 Team.
"I`m afraid that we would be in a fairly tough position at the beginning," said Suzuki, who started in 88 Grand Prix and was the first Asian to stand on the Formula One podium in Suzuka in 1990 when he finished third. "My objective this year is to make our team competitive as a Formula One team," he added.

Signing BAR-Honda reject Takuma Sato and newcomer Yuji Ide, Super Aguri have formed the first all-Japanese driver line-up in the history of the premier motorsport circuit. Powered by Honda engines and based in Langley in Oxfordshire, England, the team will join the 2006 F1 championship with the first race set for March 12 in Bahrain.

At the news conference, Honda Racing Team chief executive officer Nick Fry said his team would be among the top four or five teams expecting a strong start this season.

"Testing so far this year has gone extremely well. The engine performance is good and the chassis performance has been very strong," Fry said. "We will be going to the first race, Bahrain, in a strong position."

Fry said that defending champion Renault would be one of the toughest rivals this season. "The strongest at the moment along with us are the Renault team again, who won last year," he said. "Ferrari shouldn`t be discounted. They are in a strong position," he said, adding that Williams are also among the top competitors performing strongly in pre-season testing.

Honda returned to the F1 World Championship in 2000, after pulling out in 1992 faced with a need to put resources elsewhere.

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