Motor racing-Haas lands MoneyGram as title sponsor

(Reuters) - The Haas Formula One team will have payments and money transfer company MoneyGram as their title sponsor from next season in a multi-year deal that will provide a welcome infusion of cash for the series' only U.S. based outfit.

    The backing was officially announced at a coffee shop in downtown Austin on Thursday ahead of this weekend's U.S. Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

    Haas entered F1 in 2016 and have spent much of that time without a title sponsor other than Haas Automation, the company of machine-tools industrialist and team owner Gene Haas.

The Ferrari-powered team are eighth out of 10 teams in the constuctors' standings, level on points with ninth-placed AlphaTauri.

    Uralkali, owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, was the team’s most recent title sponsor but the Potash producer was forced out of the sport in February after the oligarch was placed on a European Union sanctions blacklist over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a 'special operation'.

    MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes told Reuters that Formula One and Haas were the perfect fit for a company that operates in more than 200 countries and territories and is seeking to energise its brand.

    Next year will have a record 24 races across 21 countries and five continents, including three in the United States.

"We like to think of ourselves as one of the fastest ways to send money and F1 being one of the fastest sports in the world we think it is a fantastic overlap and extremely unique opportunity for us," Holmes told Reuters.

"When you think about Haas itself they are a bit of a rock and roll kind of team and under Gene's leadership and partnership with Guenther (Steiner, team principal) I think they have created a