By Huw Alban
June 6 2002

There has been much talk on this site’s forum about the future of the OrangeArrows team, most of it negative. In the main it is fuelled by press reports about title sponsor Orange, and Arrows’ finances in general, but today Tom Walkinshaw gave a clear indication that the future is still bright.

Speaking through an article published in this week’s Autosport magazine, the Arrows boss has confirmed that the team’s short term future is secure. This assurance comes in the form of a new sponsorship deal, and a new investor’s deal. In addition Walkinshaw has hit out at comments from Bernie Ecclestone that teams like Arrows and Minardi cannot survive in the sport, saying that such comments are damaging to the sport as a whole.

“I don’t think it does any of the teams in the middle of the field any good to have any of these comments, because they are irresponsible,” he was quoted as saying to Autosport.

“None of the teams in the middle of the field are flush with sponsorship. If you talk to any team on the grid then they will say the same: getting sponsors in the current environment is not at all easy. I don’t believe it will get better until a settlement is sorted out between the manufacturers and [F1’s majority shareholder] Kirch. We are managing everything on a tight budget.”

According to the motorsport magazine, it’s sources indicate that ex-BAR boss Craig Pollock is partly behind the investment deal, although neither Arrows or Pollock were prepared to comment. The magazine has also revealed that the Scot has invested his own money in the team this season, despite the fact that Walkinshaw has always insisted that his team can only be successful with full (engine) factory support. On that note the Arrows boss was seen entertaining Volkswagen Group motorsports boss Bernd Pischetsrieder at the Austrian Grand Prix last month...