Davidson takes Reserve Driver position at Jaguar

By Phil Huff (10/07/2003)
July 10 2003

Lucky Strike BAR Honda's second test driver, Anthony Davidson, was a guest of the Jaguar Racing team at Magny-Cours, and it's now become clear why...

When asked why a rival teams driver was attending the circuit with Jaguar, MD David Pitchforth explained "There's no formal contract, but Jaguar Racing and BAR have reached an informal agreement whereby, should we need to put a reserve driver into one of our cars, David Richards has kindly agreed to allow Davidson to be used."

David Richards added "Anthony is contracted to BAR as a test driver alongside Takuma Sato. His contract runs for three years, to the best of my knowledge. However, I would never stand in the way of a young driver, whatever his contractual situation, if that were to prevent him having an opportunity of getting a race drive in F1."

Davidson has completed thousands of kilometres testing for BAR, and made his race debut in 2002 for Minardi. Despite not finishing either race, Davidson impressed. "Anthony shows great potential," says Martin Pitchforth, "and is an extremely good prospect for the future."