Virgin deal with Brawn's for 2010 sponsorship

Brawn GP has now agreed a major sponsorship deal with the Virgin Group for 2010, SportsPro magazine reported on Thursday. The arrangement for 2009 is set to stay the same, at $250,000 per race.

In Malaysia, the BGP 001 cars are featuring the same Virgin branding as in Melbourne a week ago, while team clothing and driver overalls remain unbranded.

In 2010, however, the sponsorship will ramp up to $30 million for the one-year contract, giving Virgin the right to sell space on the cars to additional sponsors.

The deal resembles Ferrari's Marlboro backing, where the brand has exclusive rights to the livery and the right to offset the contract price by selling space to additional sponsors.

An insider said: "If it (Virgin) gets $80 million, which it might, Virgin will keep $50 million, it's a good deal."

The team has yet to confirm any such deal.