Jordan launch: Team boss upbeat

Speaking at the official launch of the car and the team's new title sponsor, courier giant DHL, the Irishman even went as far as predicting a "possible" win for Giancarlo Fisichella this year.

"Today is a huge day for everyone concerned," said Jordan at the launch held at Brussels airport this morning (Friday). "DHL is a big step forward for us. A win for Giancarlo [Fisichella] possibly should be on the cards."

The performance of the Honda-powered EJ12 has been underwhelming in pre-season testing, and Jordan admitted in this week's AUTOSPORT magazine that his team is behind schedule. The car has tricky handling characteristics and has suffered reliability glitches.

But Jordan said in Brussels: "With testing times you never really know because people do strange things. The results may not be indicative of what is really happening. A lot people thought it might be doom and gloom for Jordan, but we've made a big improvement in the last few weeks. I am now much more comfortable than I was a month ago."

The team unveiled DHL as its new partner in a novel manner. A DHL aeroplane was taxied into a hanger and the car was then unloaded and lowered on to the stage. Then Eddie Jordan was asked to sign a DHL courier's delivery note before the speeches began. The EJ12s will be flown out to Australia for next week's season-opening Grand Prix tomorrow (Saturday).

The new car does still feature backing from long-time sponsor Benson & Hedges, but the tobacco company's brand now only appears on the nose of the racer.