Chief executive Bobby Rahal left the Ford-owned Jaguar Formula One team today and was replaced by former world champion Niki Lauda.
Rahal will return to the U.S. and "will maintain all his other automotive and motor racing business relationships with Ford Motor Company in the U.S.," a Jaguar statement said.
The announcement came after a meeting yesterday attended by Jaguar chairman Wolfgang Reitzle and Lauda. Lauda was appointed by Reitzle last February to oversee Jaguar's Formula One activities and there have been regular media reports of disagreements between him and Rahal as they jockeyed for position in the team's complex management structure.
The latest disagreement arose out of newspaper reports that Rahal had offered Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine to the Jordan team after they fired Heinz-Harald Frentzen last month.
The American, appointed team principal in December 2000, said he had merely been joking with the Jordan boss Eddie Jordan. Rahal said in a Jaguar statement that the split was "amicable".
"It has been a tremendous privilege to play a key role in the formative stages of the development of Jaguar Racing," he said.
Lauda said: "I would like to thank Bobby for the contribution he has made to Jaguar Racing. Following this development my focus will now be 100 percent on the Jaguar F1 project." Jaguar are in their second season in Formula One. After 13 races this season they have just five points.