Sauber to stay!!

[j3z3z]

BMW will keep the Sauber name alive in 2006 after registering its official works entry as the "BMW Sauber F1 Team" in next year's Formula 1 world championship. BMW, which announced its acquisition of the Swiss team in June, released the new name two days before the FIA's deadline for entries in F1 for next year. "The new team name more or less chose itself," said BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen. "It reflects the makeup of the team . run by BMW but with a core of almost 300 Sauber employees. "Plus, the 2006 car was developed by Sauber's proven engineers." BMW has also confirmed it will retain the services of Sauber's technical director Willy Rampf – who has overseen the team's new chassis design. BMW's technical director Heinz Paschen is in charge of the Munich marque's new P86 V8 engine engine programme while Walter Riedl is responsible for coordinating between the two locations factories in Switzerland and Germany. "It's nice to see that the Sauber name will continue in F1," said the team's founder Peter Sauber. "I'm particularly pleased for Sauber's many loyal fans, who I'm sure will support the team with unbowed enthusiasm in the future. "The new team's name is also an expression of the huge respect which BMW has for the employees in Hinwil." BMW intends to launch its first factory F1 car January 16 at Valencia in Spain and will until then will runa an interim chassis which will break cover at Barcelona on November 28.

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