Rivals in race for GP logo as seniors warm up

Formula One Licensing (FOL), the intellectual property arm of Bernie Ecclestone's F1 empire, has launched an attack on a new racing seniors tour which last week signed up former champion Nigel Mansell.

FOL has lodged opposition to a pan-European trademark application by London-based Grand Prix Masters for the new series' name.

Related articles

• Tobacco sponsors running out of road after China rules out F1 deals
• Search the news archive for more stories

The European Commission received opposition to the logo, which bears the text GPM Grand Prix Masters, on 23 August, just one day before Mr Ecclestone gave his endorsement to an official F1 seniors series. This would see former F1 drivers racing in open-top Porsche Boxsters as the warm-up event before F1 races.

A Grand Prix Masters series has been in the planning stages for four years and the first race is scheduled to take place in South Africa in November, with six to eight events planned for 2006. Northamptonshire's Delta Motorsport is building the 600bhp single-seater cars, which will reach 200mph. Alongside Nigel Mansell in South Africa will be F1 greats such as Alain Prost and Emerson Fittipaldi, competing for a £250,000 pot.

The company is run by Scott Poulter, former chief executive of sports marketing group Podia, which had merchandising deals with F1 teams and ran the black-tie grands prix balls. Podia was AIM-listed and worth around £30m at its peak, until the company collapsed in 2002 after a fraud by its finance director. Mr Poulter is joined on the Grand Prix Masters board by two sports lawyers who specialise in managing rugby and cricket stars, including England internationals Mark Butcher and Adam Hollioake.

FOL is trying to tie up the rights to the words "Grand Prix" by applying for a pan-European trademark in categories such as clothing and sponsorship services. Its application was accepted by the EC last November.

FOL's latest move shows that it is prepared to go after other series using the words Grand Prix. However, the A1 Grand Prix championship, which has national teams and is being launched by a member of Dubai's royal family this month at Brands Hatch, has not been told of any opposition to its logo.