OCTOBER 18, 2004

DHL going Stateside

Former Jordan title sponsor DHL Worldwide Express is currently pushing hard into the US market with a series of TV advertisements and now it seems a plan to run a car in the Indy Racing League in 2005.

Former Jordan title sponsor DHL Worldwide Express is currently pushing hard into the US market with a series of TV advertisements and now it seems a plan to run a car in the Indy Racing League in 2005. The company, which is controlled by Deutsche Post, is being heavily linked to a new team called Playa Del Racing, which is being put together by Gary Sallee who was one of the original backers of Team Cheever in 1996 and went on to form ISM Racing. It is expected that Sallee will acquire the assets of Tom Kelley's Kelley Racing.

Deutsche Post was a supporter of Jordan in F1 starting in 2000 although the branding was changed after the company became more and more involved in DHL. The firm became title sponsor of Jordan with DHL in 2002 but pulled out at the end of the end of its third year. The company said that the split was not related to the firing of Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the summer of 2001 but there is little doubt that that event did sour the relationship. This year DHL announced that it had signed a deal to become "a global partner" of the sport, taking a mobile logistics centre to each Grand Prix, offering 24-hour express service around the world.