Jaguar: "No plans to go racing"

By Steve Fowler

November 2011

In spite of its rich history in everything from Le Mans to Formula One, Jaguar has shelved any plans to go motor racing for the time being.
 
Speaking to Auto Express, Jaguar’s global brand director, Adrian Hallmark said: "We have no official factory-backed plans to go racing. At the moment, we wouldn’t know what area to compete in – the XK isn’t a Ferrari 458 Italia or a McLaren MP4-12C from a motorsport point of view."

Jaguar factory-backed teams won Le Mans five times in the fifties and then again in 1988 and 1990. The company’s ill-fated efforts in Formula One ran from 2000 to 2004 before the team was sold to become Red Bull Racing, current Formula One world champions.
 
According to Hallmark, Jaguar is putting all its current efforts into product, with an XF estate and a sports car based on the C-X16 concept both due in the next couple of years.
 
However, Hallmark wouldn’t rule out a return to the racetracks at some stage in the future: "We’d love to get back into motorsport, but we’ve got to earn the cash before we spend it".