British rookie Justin Wilson will complete a dream move to Jaguar this afternoon.
Wilson's Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has confirmed he held talks with Jaguar over the 24-year-old replacing Brazil's Antonio Pizzonia in time for next week's German Grand Prix.
Jaguar are expected to announce they have signed the Sheffield-born driver for the rest of the season at around 2p.m. today.
Earlier today Stoddart cautioned against jumping the gun before the deal was finalised.
He said: "I am a bit disappointed that this has come out into the open at the moment because something like this can scupper the deal.
"We have had talks and we will continue to have talks but the deal has not been done yet."
Wilson's 6ft 3in size should not be a problem fitting into the Jaguar cockpit because new team-mate Mark Webber is only fractionally shorter.
The deal had been held up because Jaguar had have difficulty in terminating the contract of Pizzonia, whose maiden season has been far less impressive than Wilson's.
The Northamptonshire-based racer - who uniquely sold shares in himself to raise the Stg£1.2million he needed to fund the drive - has performed admirably despite driving for the team with the smallest budget in Formula One.
Jaguar had tried to replace Pizzonia just five races into the season in Spain, but moves to bring in McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz floundered.
Wilson had been linked with a move to the team in 2004, Stoddart having said recently that he would not be with Minardi next season.
Stoddart - who has seen Renault's Fernando Alonso, Webber and now Wilson move on to bigger things - is set to replace the Briton in Hockenheim with F300 front-runner Nicolas Kiesa.
The Australian team boss is likely to be compensated for losing Wilson, while allowing the move will also help his supply of engines from Jaguar's backers Ford.