Tom Walkinshaw admits to wanting a race winner

By Huw Alban
April 28 2002

As part of a full interview to be published tomorrow, Autosport have released quotes from OrangeArrows team boss Tom Walkinshaw which sketches out the reasons for him signing Heinz-Harald Frentzen over Jos Verstappen. It is clear that Walkinshaw wanted a 'winner' in the team for 2002.

Although the full interview hasn't been published yet, web journalists have already been pulling apart the few sentences released onto the Autosport website.

In the interview Tom Walkinshaw claims that OrangeArrows needs to show what it is capable of showing it's worth with a race winning driver in the seat. He also believes that the team's moral and spirit will be lifted by the signing after a difficult 2001.

"We wanted a driver who was capable of winning races and in the past had won grands prix, because it will provide us with no hiding place," Tom has been quoted as saying. "It will be up to us to achieve results."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen has a very strong background. He won once for Williams at San Marino in 1997, and then twice for Jordan in 1999 becoming a strong World Championship contender in the process. The German endured two hard years at Williams where the team ethic there wore him down. At Jordan he was a man reborn and Tom Walkinshaw is keen for his team to have the same effect after Frentzen's terrible 2001.

"We wanted Frentzen because we feel we have a good car and we wanted to make the most of it," he added.