Tasman Motorsport has ꦆannounced it has signed award-winning premium Australian distiller Inner Circle Rum to a six-figure deal to become the team's naming rightౠs sponsor for the remainder of 2004, with continued involvement for the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

The deal will see the 🍬#3 Tasman Motorsport Hไolden Commodore driven by Jason Richards featuring the distinctive Inner Circle Rum logo, and will include an extensive in-store/bottle shop marketing campaign featuring Tasman Motorsport and Richards.

Tasman Motorspo💧rt's Kevin Murphy said he was delighted to welcome Inner Circle Rum to the team.

"This is a great fit for us and a real sign of our intent to become a front-running team 💎- not just in 2005 when we roll out a second car, but for the important and highly publicised races still to come in 2004," he said. "Inner Circle Rum is an iconic brand with a long history and we like the idea of being in business with a sponsor who is there for the long haul, as we are.

"Like us, they have relaunched their product into🌠 a very compe𒆙titive market and we're looking forward to being an active partner in raising their profile in tandem with our own."

Inner Circle Rum owner Stuart Gilbert believes Tasman Motor🎃sport is a competitive team with a strong future and he is pleased for the company to be a🎀ssociated with them.

"We like what we know about Tasman M🍰otorsport," he said. "Like us, they're a small team taking on the big guys. They're competitive, have a clean image and enormous potential. Inner Circle Rum is about quality and being the best, and that's what we believe the V8s represent to motorsport in Australia."

The te✨am has also completed its final test at Oran Park for this weekend Sandown 500, the first endurance race of the season.

The tea𝕴m comple♛ted around 120 laps and spent time practising the driver change overs that play a crucial role in the endurance events.

General manager Jon Matthews was pleased with the way the test had gone and in particular the performance of🐼 Fabian Coulthar𒊎d, who will partner Richards for the endurance races.

"We're learned a fair amoun𓆉t today," Matthews said. "We're still on a learning curve with this ca🔥r, but we've made some steps forward, especially with spring configurations.

"Also, Fabian has really benefited from racing at the Oran Park round - he's come out here today 🌠and ꦐbeen immediately quicker than his previous test sessions. It's all looking very positive for Sandown."