Superleague Formula has secured one of the biggest names in world sports with Liverpool Football Club – the most successful club in the history of English football – joining the football-themed motor racing championship.
The "Reds" will make their championship debut less than 100 miles away from their Anfield home at the historic Donington Park circuit on August 30/31.
Liverpool becomes the 17th club to sign up for the championship and the second Premier League outfit – joining London team Tottenham Hotspur. Local fans at Donington Park will now have three teams to follow covering the UK from top to bottom – Tottenham, Liverpool and Scottish side, Rangers.
Founded in 1892, Liverpool have won more trophies than any other English club including a record 18 League titles, seven FA Cups , a record seven League Cup trophies and 15 Charity Shield wins (5 shared) .
The club has also won more European Cup/Champions League trophies than any other English club (five) and shares the overall record for the most UEFA Cup wins (three).
Two of Liverpool's European wins were against two of its Superleague Formula rivals, AS Roma (1984) and AC Milan (2005).
The Superleague Formula grid will now include teams from the UK (Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur), Scotland (Rangers), Italy (AC Milan and AS Roma), Spain (Sevilla), Portugal (FC Porto), Netherlands (PSV Eindhoven), Germany (Borussia Dortmund), Belgium (RSC Anderlecht), Switzerland (FC Basel), Greece (Olympiacos), Turkey (Galatasaray), UAE (Al Ain), Brazil (Flamengo and Corinthians) and China (Beijing Guoan).
All teams will do battle with purpose-built, 750 horsepower, V12 powered single seaters in a six round championship featuring 1 million euro prizemoney for each race weekend.
"We are always keen to develop our range of commercial partners and working with Superleague Formula gives us an excellent opportunity to do that," said Ian Ayre, Liverpool FC Commercial Director.
"This also provides an interesting and new dimension for Liverpool Fans to support their team in a different way and in a different sport. The opening race at Donnington is a great chance for our UK based fans to see the car in action and the short and long term plans to grow the series will reach out to our fanbase globally."
The Liverpool car will be unveiled in Liverpool next week following on from Superleague Formula on-track testing at Donington Park on Thursday.
Superleague Formula President and CEO Alex Andreu believes the addition of Liverpool will significantly boost the profile of the new championship.
"As a global sports brand, Liverpool is one of the biggest names in the world," Andreu said.
"Donington Park is only a couple of hours from Liverpool and we are really looking forward to hearing fans break into "You'll Never Walk Alone" at a motorsport event.
"Our dream for our championship is now becoming a reality – our first race is only a matter of weeks away and all the hard work of our team at Superleague Formula is paying off.
"We are delighted to welcome Liverpool as our latest club and we look forward to announcing our final teams on the grid very soon."
The complete Superleague Formula calendar includes Donington Park (August 30-31), Nurburgring (September 20-21), Zolder (October 4-5), Estoril (October 18-19), Vallelunga (November 1-2) and Jerez (November 22-23).
- Paul Ryan-photos Superleague Formula
