New Formula One team Manor GP is to be rebranded as Virgin Racing following the announcement yesterday of a sponsorship agreement with Sir Richard Branson’s business empire.
Branson is an enthusiastic follower of motor sport and scored a major publicity coup this year when he did a sponsorship deal with Brawn GP at the start of a year which ended with the team winning both the driver’s and constructor’s titles.
“Our first year in F1 was tremendous for the Virgin brand, so why not go in again with a new team from scratch,” Branson told a press conference.
“If you look at the history of Virgin we’ve loved supporting technical breakthroughs, great engineers, and there’s something like 120 engineers working away on this project,” he said.
Branson said Virgin Racing would operate on a budget of less than £40 million (US$65 million) per year, making it one of the smallest spenders in Formula One.
The new team’s principal, John Booth, said he hoped to be testing cars by the end of next month.
“I’ve been asking the question all night as to how we managed to arrive here. But the budget restrictions have allowed us to get involved, and at the moment I’m on cloud nine,” Booth said.
The new team also confirmed yesterday that their second driver for next year would be Lucas di Grassi, who will partner Timo Glock.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and