Canberra race builds new bridges with sponsor
24/5/2002 21:36 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
The V8 Supercars’ most audacious venture, the annual parade around Parliament House in Canberra, has landed a new naming-rights sponsor.
National building materials company, Stegbar, will back next month's event. The race will now be known as the Stegbar Canberra 400, the fourth incarnation in the event’s rocky three-year existence.
The hastily convened deal, just three weeks out from the event, is for one year only, with the option for an extension.
A cautious advertising market and uncertainty over the event’s future had promoter IMG struggling to find a replacement sponsor for power tools company GMC, who ended their association last year.
It is understood IMG’s original $350,000 asking fee was reduced given the close proximity of the event.
"This [deal] combines the respected Stegbar brand with our Canberra 400 name to achieve exposure that will benefit both parties through a professionally organised and run V8 Supercar event," Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation (CTEC) Chief Executive, Ross MacDiarmid, said at yesterday’s launch.
"We are confident that the Stegbar Canberra 400 will be very good for the company and we trust that they will remain with us beyond 2002."
Stegbar Managing Director, Nigel Lapping, said the company had a strong presence in the Canberra region and involvement in other sporting and recreational activities.
And there’s no secret as to which driver the company will support: Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose signed a commercial sponsorship arrangement with Stegbar earlier this year.
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