Jordan's delight at three-year Ford deal

Despite Niki Lauda, on Friday, alluding to a three-year deal offered to Jordan 'by Cosworth,' Jordan claimed on Sunday that his deal was much more than that and that his cars would sport Ford's blue oval next year.

"There was never a question of Jordan not getting a manufacturer," Jordan said. "It was either Honda or it was Ford. It was never Mugen and it was never directly a Cosworth deal. I mean, we would have stayed where we were - that is not the situation.

"What you see racing next year will be a Jordan-Ford. On that car will be blue ovals and the name of the engine is a Ford Cosworth RS, which is in line with Ford's new range of cars coming out. It will be a new, evolved engine with its own dedicated technical people inside Cosworth, exclusive to Jordan. The engine type will be the RS1. In terms of the Cosworth contract, it is a partnership. It's not signed with Jordan, it is signed Jordan with Ford.

Asked whether his power plant would be different from the one in the back of the Jaguar, Jordan said: "To be quite honest, and I'm not being evasive here, it could be similar, it could be different. That really is up to the people at Cosworth and Gary Anderson [Jordan's director of engineering], when they get together."

Jordan declined to comment on financial aspects of the deal. "It is a partnership structure and I will be able to outline that in the future," he said. "But if you are talking about paying over the counter, it's not that kind of business."

Obviously delighted at the deal, Jordan said: "I can't tell you how relieved I am. It's taken a long time. Until you see the senior people's signatures on contracts, you're naturally a bit apprehensive. The engine is fantastically light, we have our own dedicated people for developments, we know what Cosworth can do and that has made us very excited. It's how we started. In 1991 we were with Cosworth and my dream was to be Jordan-Ford. We are now Jordan-Ford."