Deutsche Post Ends Sponsorship Deal with Jordan

The Jordan Grand Prix team have announced that their title sponsor Deutsche Post plans to discontinue its Formula One sponsorship programme at the end of this year.

"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," said team boss Eddie Jordan in a statement today.

"So, whilst we are naturally disappointed by the decision to end its involvement in Formula One I would like to thank them for their support."

Deutsche Post, who own a controlling interest in DHL, joined forces with the Silverstone-based outfit back in 1999.

The Jordan team this year made a 15 percent staff reduction following a six-month assessment period in which the structure of the team was analysed in an effort to make it more efficient.

Jordan said they had known about Deutsche Post's decision for some time and admitted he was confident of finding a new sponsor before the start of next season.

"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," added Jordan.

"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 said their full sponsorship line-up for the 2003 Championship will be announced when they launch their Ford-powered Jordan EJ13 next year.