Jordan in search of new main sponsors

THE Jordan Grand Prix team have been dealt a major financial blow after main sponsors Deutsche Post World Net announced their intention to pull out of Formula One at the end of next month.

The deal was worth in the region of £15million a year to the Irish team, who now hope to name a new backer in the new year, although it seems certain that former title sponsor Benson and Hedges will only remain as an ancillary sponsor.

Eddie Jordan said last night: ‘‘Deutsche Post World Net, along with its brands such as DHL and Danzas, has been a superb sponsor and extremely important in the development of Jordan in recent seasons. So, while we are naturally disappointed by the decision to end its involvement in Formula One, I would like to thank them for their support.

‘‘We have known about Deutsche Post World Net’s decision on a strictly confidential basis for some time - and therefore, as you would expect, we are in negotiations with new sponsors.

‘‘We have a strong track record commercially - and although this past season was not among our most competitive the fact that we finished in the top six for a ninth consecutive season shows that even in difficult times we have acquitted ourselves well.

‘‘Given our optimism about the new relationship with Ford of Europe and Cosworth Racing, and looking at the design of next year’s car, we have every reason to look forward to new goals and a new era for the team.’’

The team will launch their new Ford Cosworth RS-powered Jordan EJ13 car early next year, by which time they hope to have a new sponsor. Indeed, it will be essential that they have the necessary finance on board.

It has still not emerged whether Jordan will be paying for the use of the Ford Cosworth engines because the terms of the deal with Ford have not been disclosed. If Jordan do have to pay for the use of the engines, it will mean an annual bill of about £20m.

It is not clear whether Ford has agreed to provide the engines for nothing in a semi works deal and there are still believed to be internal wranglings within the manufacturing giant as to who should pick up the bill. Ford personnel in Detroit think that picking up the tab for the cost of running the Jaguar F1 operation is quite enough, while Ford Europe, who negotiated the deal with Jordan, think that Ford needs to market its own products through F1 involvement.

Ironically the deal with Ford was brokered through Deutsche Post and DHL on the basis of the two companies purchasing large amounts of Ford commercial vehicles.

Elsewhere in F1, the Minardi team has made no official statement as to which engines it will run next year in the wake of current supplier Asiatech pulling out of F1. However, it seems that the FIA has now announced Minardi’s plans on the team’s behalf.

Last Friday, the regular FIA F1 bulletin, which is distributed to all the sport’s accredited media, stated that Minardi would use Cosworth power. “Minardi has already received a 2002 72 degree V10 Cosworth engine and is planning to start the year with an evolution of the 2002 car fitted with this engine,” stated the bulletin.

As yet there is no news about the team’s driver line-up, although it will be giving past winner of the Nissan Championship, Frenchman Frank Montagny, a run in the car at Valencia at the end of this month. Dutch driver Jos Verstappen’s name has also been put forward as a possible.