No surprise as Caterham names McGregor

As has been expected since it named Giedo van der Garde as its second driver for the 2013 F1 season, Caterham has added Dutch clothing brand McGregor as an official partner.

The team launched its new CT03 racer on the opening day of testing at Jerez and wasted little time in adding the new logo to its striking new livery. McGregor has been a long-time partner of van der Garde on his rise through the ranks, and had been close to helping into F1 on a number of previous occasions. Finally, after a year combining reserve duties at Caterham with a fifth GP2 Series campaign, the Dutchman was named as team-mate to Charles Pic for 2013.

"We are all very pleased to welcome McGregor to Caterham F1," team principal Cyril Abiteboul commented, "McGregor is not new to F1 and if they have no doubt of the value that our sport can deliver to their brand, their expectations of the value their activation of this partnership will deliver will be just as high. Securing an 'official partnership' with McGregor is a great testimonial for us, for all the hard work that we continue to do to build our platform on track and at the factory, to the benefit of the Caterham brand and all of our partners.

"Giedo will be racing in car #21 in 2013 which neatly ties in with McGregor's denim lifestyle range, Twenty One by McGregor, and we are all excited about helping to activate the plans McGregor have to engage F1 fans and their consumers throughout 2013."

The clothing brand already has plans in place to use its new F1 association to promote its range.

"We're proud to be the official clothing partner of one of the most ambitious F1 teams," managing director Jan Paul ten Hoopen said, "Caterham - just like McGregor - are associated with drive, enterprise, passion for detail and a great chance of success in the future, [and] this partnership will enable us to place our continuous international growth on the fast track whilst giving our brand image a powerful boost.

"We are looking forward to presenting the new Caterham by McGregor collection during the Monaco Grand Prix this year."