Today (Wednesday) Tyrrell has officially announced that ...

Published on 30 October 1996 by Verstappen Info Page

Today (Wednesday) Tyrrell has officially announced that the Japanese driver Toranosuke Takagi will be the team's official test driver for 1997, next to his job as driver for Nakajima San's Formula Nippon team, with a view to him becoming one of the team's race drivers for 1998. Takagi was earlier also mentioned as one of the possible race drivers for Ligier. Tyrrell further announced a three year marketing consultancy agreement with Satoru Nakajima's "Nakajima Planning" company and a major sponsorship agreement for 1997 with PIAA, a Japanese automotive component and accessory manufacturer.

Satoru Nakajima, who raced for Tyrrell in 1990 and 1991 earning several championship points, also joins the Tyrrell board as Sporting Director. Tyrrell further announced that the construction of its new Tyrrell Ford 025 challenger is on schedule and that the new car will begin track testing early in the new year. Finally Tyrrell told that the identity of Mika Salo's teammate will soon be announced.