JUNE 3, 1996

Castrol returns to F1

TWR has announced a sponsorship deal with oil company Castrol. The deal, which is believed to have been put together by former Grand Prix driver Guy Edwards, continues an association with TWR cars which dates back to the successful days of the Jaguar sportscar program between 1987 and 1991. TWR Jaguars won two Le Mans 24 Hours, two Daytona 24 Hours and three World Sportscar titles using Castrol lubricants.

Castrol is not new to F1, having been involved in Grand Prix racing since the 1920s. Its most recent success was in 1983 when the company won the World Championship with Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW.

Castrol returned to F1 as a major sponsor of Team Lotus in 1993 - a deal put together by Edwards - but has always maintained a strong presence in rallying with the Toyota Team. When the team was excluded from the World Rally Championship this year Castrol was left without that program and there were rumors at the start of the year that it might support Ligier - where Walkinshaw was then involved. That deal never happened, but now Tom has taken over Arrows it seems the deal has been able to go ahead as the team only had a small supply deal with Mobil.

Print News Story