Former Aston Martin and Lotus Engineer Joins JLR JLR has appointed Matt Becker, one of the UK’s most respected vehicle engineers, to lead the development of the new breed of electrified Jaguars and Land Rovers. Matt Becker joins JLR at the end of January following a seven-year stint at Aston Martin as Chief Engineer – Vehicle Attribute Engineering, overseeing the development of the DBX SUV plus the Vantage and DB11, and their various derivatives. Becker will take on the role of Vehicle Engineering Director across both Jaguar and Land Rover.
Becker joins JLR team as they begin a total reinvention of Jaguar, moving it into a fully electric luxury brand. As Becker arrives at JLR, the company is also saying goodbye to its legendary chassis guru Mike Cross, who’ll be retiring after 37 years with the business. Cross has held many roles across the business, most recently as Vehicle Targets and Sign-Off director and is widely acknowledged as being the man behind the world-leading blend of ride and handling that Jaguar and Land Rover products are renowned for.
Former Aston Martin and Lotus engineer Matt Becker joins Jaguar. Becker joins the JLR team as they begin a total reinvention of Jaguar, moving it into a fully electric luxury brand. He’ll also put his experience of luxury SUVs to good use.
Speaking as he approaches retirement at the end of February, Mike Cross said, “personal highlights across my career are many, however memories of driving a Jaguar Formula One car at a pre-season test and competing in the Mille Miglia in a Jaguar C-type will last forever.”
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Information for this story from Auto Express.
Matt Becker will be replacing Mike Cross. Mike was man responsible for the trademark handling, comfort and precision of all Jaguar and Land Rover models since 2008. In 2019 he won Autocar magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
2022 Formula-E World Championship Begins The 2022 FIA Formula E World Championship has commenced with the first races on the streets of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia taking place on the 28th and 29th of January. These were the first two of 16 races to be held across 12 cities across the globe. Race 1 Jaguar had a mixed qualifying session with Sam Bird starting 5th on the grid and Mitch Evans 14th. However the Jaguar TCS Racing Team scored strong points in the opening round with Sam finishing the race in fourth, narrowly missing out on a podium.
hitting the wall and damaging his rear suspension – he lined up P21 on the grid. During the race both drivers were carving their way through the field in the race, gaining five places each and showing speed and efficiency. An aggressive strategy to save energy for the end of the race was thwarted by a crash which brought out the safety car in the last five minutes. The race did not restart and chances of valuable points evaporated with the Jaguars finishing 15th and 21st.
The better news was that Sam Bird secured the fastest lap showing the potential speed and handling of the cars. Jaguar TCS Racing move to sixth in the teams’ standings after round two.
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Round three takes place on the iconic Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit in Mexico City on the 12th February. Information for this story from Jaguar.
Mitch Evans finished tenth - the final point scoring position. Race 2 Both cars again had a difficult time in qualifying with Mitch Evans lined up on the grid in P16 after scraping the wall and damaging his steering. Sam Bird also had an unfortunate qualifying session and was unable to complete a competitive lap after THE OFFICIAL MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE JAGUAR DRIVERS CLUB OF SA
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