FPR reveals 2004 V8 Supercar challengers.

Ford Performance Racing revealed the team's 2004 season livery and sponsor line-up at the 2004 Australian Motorsport Show in Melbourne today.

FPR lifted the covers from the team's two FPR BA Falcon challengers that will be driven by multiple V8 Supercar Champions Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton in the 2004 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series.

The Prodrive owned Ford V8 Supercar team finished fifth in its V8 Supercar Championship debut last season and is joined for their 2004 challenge by major commercial partners Ford Australia, Caterpillar of Australia, Ford Performance Vehicles, Ford Credit and Castrol.

Global automotive original equipment and aftermarket product manufacturer Delphi joins FPR for the 2004 season, with both FPR BA Falcon V8 Supercars featuring the company's corporate and aftermarket brand identities this season.

Delphi are joined by continuing team commercial partners Novotel, Travelworld, Mori Seiki, software supplier PLM and automotive refinishing giant PPG. The team's technical association with Hewlett Packard for their leading edge IT equipment and technical services will also continue into the new season.

The new look CAT FPR BA Falcon (Car 6) driven by Lowndes this season now sports a more striking livery design that places stronger emphasis on the Caterpillar brand colours of black, white and yellow throughout the aggressive Ford Performance Vehicles' bird of prey base design.

Seton's Ford Credit FPR BA Falcon (Car 5) follows the same design lines as its Caterpillar sponsored counterpart, using the familiar Ford Credit brand colours of red, blue and white. FPV branding occupies both sides of the number 5 blue oval challenger, promoting the team's integral engineering and marketing link to Ford Australia's exciting performance vehicle division.

The striking 2004 FPR Falcon livery designs were created by Ford Australia designer Adrian Magu, the new team livery reflecting the fact that both FPR BA Falcon V8 Supercars have been completely re-engineered from the ground up for the 2004 season.

FPR's drivers were joined by FPR / FPV Managing Director David Flint and Chief Engineer John Russell in today's launch at the 2004 Australian Motorsport Show.

According to Lowndes, his fourth season as a Ford driver is shaping up to be his best ever. "We had a taste of what could be achieved last season with our victory and three podium finishes. This has whetted our appetite for much more this season, now that we have an extremely well equipped engineering headquarters and we have learned as much as we can about our BA Falcon V8 Supercars. Nothing is stopping us from being a major blue oval challenger in
2004," he said.

For Seton, the season ahead brings a new set of challenges that he believes the team is more than well equipped to deal with. "FPR now has everything that the team needs to get the job done. Our engineering centre is among the best in the country and we have experience behind us that we can draw upon to make the team more competitive in 2004. I am looking forward to being a part of FPR's challenge this season, as we now find ourselves in a much better position to compete for victories compared to this time last year," Seton said.

FPR Managing Director David Flint believes that 2004 will be the season that FPR displays its true potential. "We head towards the new season with great anticipation now that our learning season is well behind us. FPR now has the
foundation that it has needs to win, armed with the vast engineering resources of our state of the art race centre and the experience of being a top five team in this most competitive of categories. Together with our valued commercial partners we plan to get the job done for Ford in 2004 and we eagerly await Adelaide's season opener," He said.

According to John Russell, FPR is focused on building the team's competitiveness in 2004. "Above all else, I would like to acknowledge the commitment of the team's continuing commercial partners and I also welcome those who have chosen to join us in our 2004 challenge. FPR has now laid the foundations to begin its climb to the summit of this category and we expect to be delivering front row performances during the season."