AUGUST 25, 2001

Whitaker to Jaguar Racing

IN the wake of the shake-up at Jaguar, the team has appointed a new director of communications with Martin Whitaker being drafted in to take over the job, having decided to give up his job as head of Ford Racing - overseeing all other aspects of the car company's competition policy, notably the World Rally Championship.

The 42-year-old Englishman comes from a communications background having started out as a journalist with Motoring News. He left journalism in 1985 to become press officer of Britain's national sporting authority before moving to the FIA and from there to a year with Bernie Ecclestone. After a year Whitaker moved to a new position at McLaren when he stayed just two years before a very brief spell with Sauber. He then went back to the FIA and stayed until the end of 1994 when he joined Ford as head of motor sport communication. In April 1996 he was appointed as head of Ford's European motorsport programs. A bid to lead Jaguar Racing in October 1999 failed and so he went off to rallying.