AUGUST 29, 2000

Ressler promises Jaguar will be competitive in 2001

JAGUAR chairman Neil Ressler has promised that the team will be a more competitive outfit in 2001 after he insisted that they are close to achieving the targets set this year.

The Milton Keynes-based team have picked up just three points in their first year in Formula One - when Eddie Irvine finished fourth in Monaco.

But Ressler insisted that despite the disappointment of not challenging for a top-five constructors' championship place, Jaguar are almost nearing the targets they set out for 2000.

"We're working busily behind the scenes and I think we are getting better all round," Ressler said. "There's still room for improvement but we're making progress both in the way we do our business and in our results.

"We'll keep pushing because we're getting close to what we need for this year. Naturally we've set ourselves much more aggressive targets for next year and fully intend to be operating on 10-cylinders, figuratively speaking, as we move into the first race of next year."