Minardi Lose Commerical Director Manwaring

The cash-strapped Minardi team confirmed today that they have parted company with commercial director Rupert Manwaring after he was signed to Lola Cars as their new managing director.

Manwaring joined Minardi in January last year when team boss Paul Stoddart took over the ailing outfit from long-time owner Giancarlo Minardi and has been responsible for masterminding several crucial deals.

He had been in Formula One since starting his career with the Surtees team in 1977 and worked as team manager for Brabham, Lola, Lotus and Tyrrell in the past. He joined Minardi after a stint with the still-born Honda team.

His departure will be a loss but a spokesperson for the team insisted: "We have a strong commercial plan. We will miss him but we are confident of our funding for next year."

The team chief, Paul Stoddart, said last month that he had still only found two thirds of his budget for 2003 but the Australian said today that the future was looking brighter. "We're a bit better than that now, probably about 75 to 80 percent now. There's no question about us being in Melbourne. We're there," he said.

The team secured a Formula One lifeline by snapping up a Cosworth engine supply for 2003 but it is understood they had to pay an estimated $15 million to net the one-year deal.

While fellow Cosworth-powered strugglers Jordan negotiated a funded supply of engines from Ford, Minardi will have to splash out the cash from their own pockets.

They will also lose money from title sponsors 'GO-KL', the Kuala Lumpur tourist agency, when they scale down their support next season after the former Malaysian race driver Alex Yoong was dropped at the end of this year.

But the team are confident they have enough sponsors to continue and Stoddart added: "The deal with Cosworth renews valued links and I am sure we will have a very strong package overall next season."