Irvine scorns US racing

Never shy with voicing his opinion, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was less than complementary to US racing series' and to female drivers when rumours surfaced he might be considering a move to the States. Irvine's future is a mystery at the moment but he ...

Never shy with voicing his opinion, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was less than complementary to US racing series' and to female drivers when rumours surfaced he might be considering a move to the States. Irvine's future is a mystery at the moment but he dismissed any thought of moving to race in America.

Eddie Irvine.

Photo by Jaguar Racing.

"I've been there and I've watched it," Irvine said to the BBC of US racing. "From Formula One, it would be like going to the British Touring Car Championship. It would be interesting in another capacity, but not as a driver. I think there was a lady on pole position at the last IRL event, so really..."

"I would never drive in the States. I've no interest in it whatsoever. I went there in '93 and looked at it when I was doing Japanese 3000 as Toyota were going to go into it and they wanted me to have a look at doing Indy Cars. I did look at it, and although a step forward in that it was a bigger series, the Japanese series was definitely more professional."

Irvine remains unforthcoming on his plans for the future and whether he will remain in F1 is doubtful. BAR's Jacques Villeneuve was also recently rumoured to be thinking of returning to the CART series but his manager Craig Pollock was of a similar opinion of Irvine, saying Villeneuve would not return as it would be a step backwards. Irvine has been linked with a possible move to Jordan and even a role as test driver somewhere, so disillusion with Jaguar that he is.