Jungle Boy grabs graduation opportunity.

Antonio Pizzonia's testing form for both WilliamsF1 and Jaguar Racing has earned him a coveted Formula One seat for 2003, after being snapped up by the latter to partner Australian Mark Webber.

The 22-year old Brazilian spent the past season as BMW WilliamsF1 test driver, running competitively alongside Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene, but impressed the Jaguar team after being lent by Williams during an end of season test. Sufficiently encouraged to take a chance on a younger-than-usual driver line-up, Jaguar boss Niki Lauda is delighted to have secured the services of the F3000 frontrunner.

"In Antonio, or 'Jungle Boy' as he has been nicknamed, we have a very gifted raw racer who will undoubtedly inject a new lease of life into Formula One," the Austrian admitted, "His speed and racing instinct are what attracted us to him, and I have little doubt in his ability to shake-up the establishment in a big way."

Although he endured a disappointing second F3000 campaign with the Petrobras Junior team, Pizzonia ran well in each of his F1 tests and set his sights on landing a seat in the top flight.

"After having spent a year testing solidly for BMW WilliamsF1, the logical next step was to secure a race drive for 2003, and to have been given that opportunity by Niki Lauda is simply fantastic," he commented from the United States, where he is preparing to contest this weekend's New York Marathon.

"Jaguar Racing has made considerable progress in recent months and, combined with the solid work being undertaken right now, I am very excited about racing for Jaguar next season. My testing role with BMW WilliamsF1 this season has generated over 14,000km of mileage, and my aim now is to focus this experience towards helping Jaguar achieve its goals next season."

Pizzonia will begin testing duties with Jaguar Racing after the winter test ban is lifted after 26 November.

[photo by David Lopez]