A1GP Team Ireland announces new sponsor

A1 Team Ireland's fresh assault on The A1GP World Cup of Motorsport was launched today when the team unveiled its new sponsor Belmayne and the spectacular A1GP car in striking green and white livery during a photocall with A1GP Grid girls at The Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Key among the announcements was the news that Ralph Firman, former Jordan Formula 1 driver and principal driver for A1 Team Ireland in the first season, will drive for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland in the opening round of the series at Zandvoort, Holland, on 30 September.

A1 Team Ireland has secured a title sponsor for 2007/08 season — LM Developments. The sponsor will use its development in North County Dublin, Belmayne as the named titled sponsor. Commenting on the sponsorship, Director Donal Caulfield said: "LM Developments is genuinely delighted to sponsor A1 Team Ireland for the 07/08 season. A1 GP is an incredibly exciting new sport and for us, it is a great alignment for our new development scheme at Belmayne".

The A1GP car unveiled by the team is one of over 22 technically identical cars, powered by 550bhp 3.4 liter V8 engines and capable of speeds of up to 190mph, which will compete in the 11 race series, battling for victory in The World Cup of Motorsport at tracks around the world between September 2007 and May 2008.

Also present at today's launch was current GP2 driver Adam Carroll, from Portadown. Both Adam and Ralph took part in the recent testing at Silverstone International Circuit recently.

Following the launch on Wednesday the Belmayne A1 Team Ireland racing car, will be shown to the public at north Dublin's most stylish new address Belmayne, Malahide Road opposite the Hilton Hotel on Saturday 15 September including an exciting demonstration at the hands of Ralph Firman. Members of the public can come and see the Belmayne A1 Team Ireland Car run in its new livery before it makes it's away around the world to compete in A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.

Ralph Firman; "I am delighted to have been invited to drive for Belmayne A1 Team Ireland, and to represent Ireland in the opening race of the season in Zandvoort. We achieved a great deal together in the opening season of A1GP when we scored a podium finish in only our third race, but it is clear from my return to the team that it has moved onto a completely new level in terms of technical capability. The team has always had the potential to win — everyone's focused on doing just that."

Mark Kershaw, Team Owner; "I'd like to thank the management of LM Developments, owners of the superb Belmayne, for their support in backing A1 Team Ireland in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. When we set out to bring Ireland success in a world-wide international single seater motor racing series two years ago we had a number of objectives, and one was to secure a key commercial partner. The Belmayne development reflects the new Ireland of the 21st century and the fit with A1 Team Ireland is perfect as we take on the largest countries in the world in a high technology sport. Ralph's return to Team Ireland is most welcome as he has achieved our best results to date, and the performance of Ralph and Adam Carroll in testing showed our potential. We have further announcements to make about drivers in the coming weeks, but for the moment our focus is on confirmed the new-look Belmayne A1 Team Ireland and Ireland's A1GP car."

A1 Team Ireland is headquartered in Dublin with an operations office near Silverstone in the UK. Its line-up at the launch will be completed by Team Owner Mark Kershaw, Team Principal Mark Gallagher, Chief Engineer Dan Walmsley and Team Manager Dave O'Neill. Before making its debut at Zandvoort, Netherlands Belmayne A1 Team Ireland will participate in two full days of testing at Silverstone International Circuit Tuesday and Wednesday 18 and 19 September. A1GP PR