In a statement issued today in Indianapolis Ford Motor Company confirmed that it will be providing Jordan Grand Prix with Ford Cosworth RS engines from 2003 onwards.  The three year agreement between Jordan, Ford and Cosworth Racing was heralded by Richard Parry-Jones, Group Vice President of Ford Motor Company, as being an important opportunity to market the famous Ford Cosworth brand at a time when Ford of Europe is re-introducing Ford Cosworth RS road cars into its product line-up.

The primary purpose of Ford Motor Company's announcement was to re-affirm its commitment to Formula One with Jaguar Racing, ending recent press speculation about the future of the Ford-owned team.  Concerning the Ford Cosworth association with Jordan, Parry-Jones said : "With the return of Ford Cosworth RS road cars to Ford of Europe's line up, now is an excellent time to remind people of the advantages of being powered by Ford Cosworth engines."

He went on to confirm that the famous Ford Blue Oval Badge will be seen on next year's Jordan Fords.

"We are excited by this opportunity to use Formula One to link the legendary Ford Cosworth heritage with the Ford of Europe brand message," said Martin leach, President and COO of Ford of Europe.  "We're also taking the obvious opportunity to link the Formula One platform to our plans to re-introduce the Cosworth brand to our road car line up and create even most cost effective means of leveraging the tremendous marketing clout of Formula One."

The Ford Motor Company statement confirmed that Jordan will use a development of the current V10 engine in 2003 with a dedicated team of Cosworth engineers developing the engine further.

Jordan's engine designation will be Ford Cosworth RS1 next season, followed by Ford Cosworth RS2 for 2004.

Ford and Jordan have jointly contracted with Cosworth Racing for the engine development programme and are commercial partners in this exciting programme to add to the 175 Grand Prix wins scored by the Blue Oval.  Jordan Grand Prix would like to record its appreciation to Honda for five great years of support, which saw three wins with Mugen-Honda, and for their sporting gesture of an early release of Jordan from its contract so that the team could enter this new partnership with Ford.