January 08, 2004
After the details of his 2004 contract were made public, JTM driver Toby Lock seemed a relative bargain at just over £2 million. However, the valuation resulted in a mere £90,498 per race. Lock believes that he should at least be paid the equal of his 2003 contract.

"I was paid £900,000 for what I did in 2003, and that was 4 races. Now I have to take part in a hell of a lot more races to make a million. Sure, for the team it is a bargain, as with the machinery that the JTM team is giving me, I think that we can get some good results, but I'm not happy about taking such a massive pay cut."

When asked if he considered leaving the team, Lock was adamant that he was not looking for a move. "JTM didn't make up the payment terms, the Governing Body did. I'm happy with Juan being my manager, and I SUPPOSE I can put up with Matt as my team-mate, after all, I have done for 3 years now!!"

Maple was happy with his payment deal, over £1.5 million higher than Lock's. This was still relatively low compared to the rest of the league however, allowing JTM to potentially make bigger coup's in signing bigger sponsership and engine deals. The JTM title sponsor is yet to be announced to the public, but it is believed that the drivers have been let in on the deal. When asked, Lock said "I'm not allowed to talk about it, it'll be released soon enough, don't worry!"

With the latest test dates being released, Lock has shown his intent to make his first appearance of 2004. "I think it's time to get back into the car. With the Chaos 004 ready and tested for IGP3, though we might not be driving it in 2004, I think that it is time to get familiar with the JTM once again, and this test might be the right time to do it. We had a problem with race pace last year, and hopefully this might get some of the bugs out"

No launch dates have been revealed yet, and it is not known whether JTM will take part in the first pre-season test, but it looks like Lock is read to drive again.

The F1VWC Press office obtained the opinion of a leading F1VWC Governing Body member regarding the pay settlements for 2004, in light of Lock's comments.

"If Mr Lock wished to receive a similar or increased amount to his pay deal with JTM, then he should have ensured that his race performances in 2003 were better than they actually were. All pay offers are related to actual race finishing position. Perhaps this will improve his race performance so that in 2005 he will have a much better bargaining tool when it comes to his salary".

Severe comments, but we can confirm it was not Max Mosley who provided them!