Monday October 14th, 2002

British American Racing co-founder Rick Gorne has become Malaysian Alex Yoong's new manager, it was announced today.

"I have been keeping track with Yoong's progress in the last few years and although he had struggled in the middle of his first full F1 season, he had shown what he is capable of towards the end of the season," said Gorne.

"I strongly believe Yoong has the potential to succeed in Formula One."

Gorne, also former race operations director of BAR and a partner of racing car manufacturer Reynard, said Yoong, who drove for the Minardi team this year, could still land a test seat with the Anglo-Italian squad for 2003.

Minardi have an option on the Malaysian that they have to exercise before the end of November.

Yoong, however, has already admitted that he is not interested in testing for Minardi, and Gorne said CART or the IRL are the driver's favourite options.

"We are looking at various options for 2003 and beyond," Gorne said. "It is possible that he may stay on in Formula One either as a test driver with Minardi or another team or even maybe in a full race seat with either Minardi or another team.

"But CART or the Indy Racing League Series in the United States is also a very viable option, especially as the budget required is much lower when compared with Formula One."

Published at 11:54:20 GMT