British Formula Three champion Takuma Sato of Japan will drive for Eddie Jordan's Formula One team next season, a Honda official said yesterday.

"Sato will hold a news conference on Wednesday (2.30 p.m.) and he will talk about his future plan," the official said as the Jiji and Kyodo news agencies reported that a deal had been sealed between the 24-year-old driver and the Formula One team.

Asked if Sato will announce his contract with Jordan-Honda, the official said: "You may well expect him to do so."

Sato, who became the first Japanese driver to win the British F3 title when he marked his 12th victory of the season at Silverstone last month, has also been a test driver this season for the F1 BAR (British American Racing)-Honda team.

He will drive alongside Giancarlo Fisichella for Jordan-Honda, ending French veteran Jean Alesi's career with the team.

It was not immediately clear if Sato would compete at this weekend's season-ending Japanese Grand Prix at the Honda-owned Suzuka track.

Sato drove a Honda-powered BAR F1 machine yesterday with Canadian Jacques Villenueve in a promotional event for the Japanese car-maker.

"I still have a contract with BAR and I can't talk about that now," Sato told reporters at that time about his possible graduation to Formula One. "It's a matter of wait and see," he said.

Sato will be the seventh full-time Japanese Formula One driver and the first since Toranosuke Takagi's two seasons from 1998.

Sato's full-time motor racing career started in 1997 after he honed his skills at a racing school run by Honda at Suzuka. He moved to Britain in 1998 and won four British F3 races for the Carlin Motorsport Racing Team last season.

The news comes as a major blow to Alesi, who will be driving for Jordan in his 201st grand prix on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Frenchman joined the team from Prost when Heinz-Harald Frentzen was sacked in August and he had hoped that his close friend and team owner Eddie Jordan would keep him on next year.