BMW Sauber will take the place of Toyota in the Formula One World Championship in 2010, global motorsport's governing body, the FIA, announced on Thursday.
"The FIA has informed BMW Sauber AG their application has been successful," the International Automobile Federation said in a statement.
"Subject to their signing the Concorde Agreement, BMW Sauber will be awarded the 13th entry in the Championship, taking the place of the departing Toyota team."
The FIA decision comes a week after former owner Peter Sauber stepped in to take over BMW Sauber, only two months after the sale of the Formula One team to Swiss firm Qadback Investments Ltd was publicly announced.
Qadback Investments bought the team in September for around 80 million euros (116.8 million US dollars) - a purchase seen as pivotal in safe-guarding the team's future after BMW's announcement in July 2009 that it would quit the sport at the end of the year.
BMW's announcement last Friday contained no explanation as to why the deal with Qadback, a firm which represents the interests of several influential families in Europe and the Middle East, came to an abrupt end.
However after the deal, Peter Sauber, 66, said he was relieved to have been able to step in and thus save the jobs that appeared to be under threat at the company's headquarters in Hinwil, Switzerland.
Sauber, who has been involved in Formula One since the 1970s - eventually selling his Sauber team, founded in 1993, to BMW in 2005 - said that under the agreement the team's workforce would however be reduced from 388 to 250.
"This is very good news for all the members of the team after weeks of uncertainty about their futures," Sauber said.
"Now we know this for certain, we will be able to negotiate concretely with drivers and sponsors."
The new team has no drivers on their roster with Poland's Robert Kubica having moved to Renault while the contract of Germany's Nick Heidfeld has expired.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
