Performance not behind sponsor pull: FPR

V8 Supercar team Ford Performance Racing say the loss of longtime sponsor Castrol has nothing to do with Steve Richards' struggles in this year's championship.

Richards, who drives the Castrol-backed FPR Falcon, is 16th on the championship ladder and has only stood on a podium once this year, after the year's fifth race at Winton in Victoria.

Castrol has sponsored FPR since the Ford factory team debuted in V8 Supercars in 2003 but will end their association at the end of the year.

FPR's director of business operations Mark Roworth says Castrol's decision to end their association appears to be purely a business decision.

"They (Castrol) did not mention that in any way, shape or form," Roworth told AAP when asked if performance was a factor in their decision.

"The reality is, yeah, Richo has had a year that's probably not been anywhere near what he would like to have been and certainly not what we would like it have been.

"That's not all Steve's issues. We haven't supported him in the way we would like in the sense of being able to prepare the car to his liking.

"I think that we've proved in our last result that our team is absolutely back on track.

"We've proven that changes we've made to actually get things right have returned good results straight away.

"And that's why we head to Phillip Island now absolutely, 100 per cent, believing that we can win that event."

It's believed FPR's refusal to change the colour of their car from Ford's traditional blue to Castrol's green was behind the oil company's move.

Roworth said Castrol's decision would not cripple the team's finances and he was confident of finding new sponsors quickly.

"Absolutely. The market is actually a lot stronger than what people suspect," he said.

"At the end of the day it (Castrol's sponsorship) probably equates to about 12 per cent of our income.

"It's never great to lose a client that provides 12 per cent of your income but at the same time it does provide us with other opportunities.

"We've been talking with other potential sponsors for a long time. It's always been a desire of mine anyway to move out of the garage and move into the shopping centre and really start to work with those fast-moving, consumer good brands which our sport hasn't been great at doing."