Thursday May 4th, 2000

Jaguar Racing chairman Neil Ressler has taken over from Paul Stewart as chief executive officer of the Jaguar Formula One team.

Stewart, son of former champion Jackie, stood down last month when it was revealed he had been diagnosed with cancer of the colon.

"Following Paul Stewart's understandable decision to relinquish his reponsibilities as Chief Operating Officer, it was important that we acted quickly to restructure the management of the team," said Ressler.

Ressler will combine the jobs of chairman and chief executive officer as did Jackie Stewart -- who founded the Stewart team that was renamed Jaguar this season after Ford took control -- before he stepped down this year.

The team said Ressler would have direct responsibility for all team activities and would be in charge at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

The new team boss also announced on Thursday that Jaguar had signed contracts to develop and build its own wind tunnel and intended to group all the separate elements of its team -- including engine makers Cosworth -- in one location.

"We are investing in a range of state of the art facilities which will ensure that Jaguar racing is a fully competitive Formula One team with the potential to challenge for the highest honours in the sport," said Ressler.