Rahal leaves Jaguar and Lauda takes over.

Jaguar Racing have today announced that Bobby Rahal has left the team and that Niki Lauda will take over as team boss.

'The Cat' released the following statement: "Following a meeting in London on Thursday 23 August, it was mutually agreed that in the best interests of Jaguar Racing, the management of the team should change. With immediate effect, Niki Lauda, Chief Executive Officer of the Premier Performance Division will assume the position of Team Principal and will take over all of Bobby Rahal's responsibilities at Jaguar Racing for the immediate future."

"Rahal will return to his business interests in the US and will maintain all his other automotive and motor racing business relationships with Premier Automotive Group and Ford Motor Company in the US."

Bobby Rahal said: "It has been a tremendous privilege to play a key role in the formative stages of the development of Jaguar Racing. I have truly enjoyed the time I have spent with the many talented people at Jaguar Racing and I wish them all the best for the future. I would stress this is an amicable parting and I look forward to continuing my other business relationships with the Premier Automotive Group and Ford Motor Company in the US."

Niki Lauda added: "I would like to thank Bobby for the contribution he has made to Jaguar Racing. Following this development my focus will now be 100 per cent on the Jaguar F1 project."

Wolfgang Reitzle - President of the Premier Automotive Group - concluded: "Bobby and I had a very civilized meeting. It was clear to me that it was in the best interests of Jaguar Racing that this amicable solution was reached. I admire Bobby for his business acumen and we are looking forward to further developing the business links between Bobby, the Premier Automotive Group and Ford Motor Company in the US."

Rahal was appointed CEO and Team Principal of Jaguar Racing on the 1st December 2000. He therefore leaves the team after less than a year in charge. His position at Jaguar has been the subject of a lot of media debate since the appointment of Niki Lauda earlier in the year.

Lauda was appointed as CEO of the Premier Performance Division, which is the motor sport arm of the Premier Automotive Group, the Ford Motor Company business group responsible for Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Lincoln. The Premier Performance Division co-ordinates the activities of Jaguar Racing, Cosworth Racing and Pi Research which is a sub-brand of the Pi Group Ltd.

It remains to be seen now whether anyone will be appointed to this position or if indeed it was ever necessary to have a person in this role. The cynics among the paddock will no doubt argue it was just a means of getting Lauda into a position to take over and matters between the Austrian and Rahal apparently came to a head at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Rumours emerged last weekend that Rahal had tried to off load Eddie Irvine to Jordan something Lauda was reported to be enraged about and there was a lot of speculation earlier in the week that the American would be shown the door - something that has now been confirmed with today's announcement.