Firman Deserved Jordan Drive, Says Irvine

Ulsterman Eddie Irvine revealed he is happy Briton Ralph Firman got the Jordan drive despite being beaten to the seat by the Formula One rookie.

Firman, who will make his Formula One debut this season, signed a three-year deal with the Silverstone-based team this week after seeing off competition from Irvine, Felipe Massa and Gary Paffett.

Irvine, 37, who will now retire from F1, applauded the appointment of Firman and told The Sun: "Once I was out of the frame the drive couldn't have gone to a better bloke than Ralph.

"What really pleases me is Ralph has served what I would call a proper apprenticeship. There are too many young drivers who get the chance to drive a Grand Prix car just because their face fits."

Irvine's career as a racing driver was rescued by Firman's dad Ralph Senior, the biggest maker of single-seater cars at his Van Diemen factory in Norfolk. Ralph Snr was the first man to give Irvine a works drive.

"If it hadn't been for Ralph's dad who knows where my career may have gone? But he was the one who saw my potential and handed me a real lifeline," added Irvine. "The stumbling block was that Ralph needed me to find £12,000 towards his budget, a lot of cash in those days. I had made around £5,000 from buying and selling cars in between racing so I handed that over.

"But he never once pressured me for the rest because during the 1987 season we were flying. I had the best car and went on to win the RAC Championship which brought in a few bob in prize money. The following year I moved to F3 and eventually went to Japan.

"It would have been easy to forget about the money I still owed Ralph but I did repay my debt - even though it took me four years to hand over the remaining £7,000."