JANUARY 8, 2001

Jaguar prepare to unveil 2001 challenger

JAGUAR's new chief operating officer Bobby Rahal has promised that the changes he has made will boost the team's chances of Formula One success, on the eve of the launch of their 2001 challenger.

JAGUAR's new chief operating officer Bobby Rahal has promised that the changes he has made will boost the team's chances of Formula One success, on the eve of the launch of their 2001 challenger.

Former Champ Car boss Rahal has ringed the changes since he moved into office in December and he believes the in-house transformation will be beneficial to Jaguar's chances this year.

"Last year was a major disappointment," said Rahal, who will be present at the launch at the team's Coventry headquarters on Tuesday. "The people at the team know Jaguar did not live up to expectations and changes had to be made.

"Bringing in people like Steve Nichols, our new technical director, will help us a lot this year, but we still cannot target wins. We have to target a good position amongst the mid-field teams before we look at Ferrari and McLaren."

Rahal is confident he has a good driver combination in Briton Eddie Irvine and Brazilian Luciano Burti and expects the latter to learn from Irvine's experience this year.

"Luciano drove in Austria last season and he did well," Rahal added. "I know he has competed with Jenson Button throughout his career and he can do very well.

"Eddie has a lot of experience in Formula One and Luciano should learn a lot from him. He learned last year as a test driver and he will learn even more as his partner."