Ford Credit renews FPR sponsorship.

Ford Performance Racing [FPR] used the occasion of the Bathurst 1000km to announce that Ford Credit had confirmed an extension to its sponsorship of the team for another season.

Ford Credit has enjoyed a mutually successful corporate sponsorship partnership with Glenn Seton since 1996 and, upon the acquisition of Glenn Seton Racing [GSR] by Prodrive, elected to retain its major sponsorship of Seton and become one of the major corporate partners of Ford Performance Racing. The announcement also coincided with Seton's 20th anniversary at Bathurst and extends the successful Seton/Ford Credit marketing alliance to a remarkable nine consecutive years.

According to Tony Taylor, general marketing manager at Ford Credit, the continuation of the company's title sponsorship of Seton's FPR Falcon was an easy decision to make.

"We stepped into the formation of FPR to continue our successful marketing partnership with Glenn Seton, and we could not be happier with how this strategy has developed," he said, "Becoming a major part of this three Falcon team has further promoted our company's automotive financial services to numerous national markets, while continuing our long term association with Glenn. FPR and Ford Credit share the same philosophy in relation to the corporate and public promotion of our brand using V8 Supercar racing as our broad and ever growing marketing platform."

Nick Murray, FPR's commercial manager, believes that this sponsorship renewal by Ford Credit is a major vote of confidence for the relatively new Ford V8 Supercar team.

"Ford Credit has continued to extend their major market share through their sponsorship of Glenn Seton and, more recently, as a major corporate partner of FPR," he said, "We are delighted that they have confirmed their major FPR corporate partner status for season 2004, which marks the ninth year of their sponsorship involvement with Glenn. We look forward to a great deal of success on and off the race track for Ford Credit as a result of this renewed agreement."

Seton admitted that he was delighted to be continuing the long-term association with his major sponsor.

"Ford Credit have been with me since 1996 and, during this time, we have established a strong personal and business association together," he explained, "It is fantastic to see the company extend our long-term association through continued sponsorship of FPR through to next season, and I look forward to rewarding their marketing investment on the track."