MARCH 17, 2001

European Minardi lands Gericom sponsorship

THE European Minardi team is expected to announce tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur that it has signed a sponsorship deal with the Austrian computer company Gericom. The firm was involved in a sponsorship deal last year with the European Formula F3000 team but has decided to increase its involvement and support the new team in F1.

Gericom designs and manufactures laptop computers and a number of other internet-linked products and is growing fast with an annual turnover of around $200m. The Minardi sponsorship is believed to be designed to help the company to build up its brand awareness around the world.

The team refused to confirm the deal today but the car featured small Gericom stickers in the course of practice in Malaysia although it is expected that there will be different branding in the races ahead.