Toyota Motorsport GmbH has today announced that it has signed a sponsorship deal with US-based IT company BMC Software Inc, effective 1 July 2004, which sees BMC become a sponsor and technical partner for the Panasonic Toyota Racing Formula 1 team.

As part of the deal, the BMC Software Inc. logo will appear on the front wing end plate of Panasonic Toyota Racing's TF104 race cars, as well as on the team's motorhome, garage pitboards and MAN technical trucks starting from this weekend's French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours.

BMC Software, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise management solutions that empower companies to manage their IT infrastructure from a business perspective. Delivering Business Service Management, BMC Software solutions span enterprise systems, applications, databases and service management.

President of Toyota Motorsport John Howett: "This exciting new partnership with BMC (Using the BMC Software) will enable us to understand how we can optimise our IT resources to ensure they support both our performance and business objectives. This will enable us to improve the speed and quality of IT services, to improve strategic planning activities and concurrently provide operating cost reductions. All essential ingredients to support our quest to achieve long term success in Formula 1."

Hans van Stek, Vice President, Europe, Middle East & Africa, BMC Software said: "By sponsoring Panasonic Toyota Racing, we are universally promoting teamwork, reliability and performance.. We also chose Formula 1 because it places the BMC Software brand within a dynamic, appealing environment, which has tremendous cachet. Toyota is one of only two teams on the F1 circuit that undertakes the entire end-to-end design and manufacturing process in-house, This places an even greater need for IT to be closely aligned with the team's racing goals: which fully supports our strategy of Business Service Management," he added.