JUNE 26, 2001

Irvine appeals for test-driver

IRVINE has condemned the test drivers situation at Jaguar, declaring it less than ideal after the firing of Tomas Scheckter.

Scheckter's absence leaves just a few inexperienced, young drivers to test for Jaguar as well as Irvine and his racing team-mate Pedro de la Rosa.

Young German Andre Lotterer has been tipped to replace Scheckter, but nothing has been confirmed.

"It's not ideal. If me or Pedro have a problem then I hope Niki's (Lauda) helmet's still FIA approved," joked Irvine. "We don't have a test driver as such.

"I think Andre Lotterer does a reasonable job despite his inexperience. But that only affects us sometimes."

Irvine, who missed his last test at Silverstone with a neck injury, also reiterated his desire for the team to solve their other testing problems - like finding a wind tunnel to test aerodynamics.

He added: "The main thing is we've got to sort out our wind tunnel and the manpower.

"We need more of everything. That's what really affects us all the time. The test driver only affects us whenever we have a problem."