Two Hundred Champions in 2008

Cooper and Avon have shown particular strength in the field of motorsport, with more than 200 worldwide motorsport champions crowned on either tyre brand in 2008. One of the more impressive aspects of this record is the sheer variety of competitive motorsport championships and range of markets in which the manufacturer has enjoyed success.

In the US, Cooper continued its title sponsorship of the Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda, where Finland’s Markus Niemela won the title in his rookie season. He held off challenges from second and third placed, Jonathan Bomarito and Jonathan Summerton, plus Greg and Leo Mansell, sons of 1992 F1 World Champion Nigel. From next year in Europe, Cooper Tire will also be the title sponsor for the UK’s premier single-seater championship, the British Formula 3 International Series.

Avon has been the sole tyre supplier to British F3 since 1982, but the new three-year title deal enables the Cooper brand to benefit from a series that now races across the European Continent. Spain’s Jaime Alguersuari became the last British F3 champion to win on Avons, joining such luminaries as F1 World Champions Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen.

Often racing alongside British F3, James Gornall and Jon Barnes, clinched the 2008 Avon Tyres British GT Championship with two rounds to go. Despite driving a Dodge Viper that cost half as much as some of their Ferrari and Lamborghini rivals, the British duo took four victories on their way to the UK’s premier sports car title. In the new GT4 category, Stewart Linn and Matt Nicoll-Jones won 8 out of the 14 races, finishing on the podium on every occasion.

In European Rallycross – one of the few championships with open tyre choice – Sweden’s Kenneth Hansen decision to use Avon’s paid dividends as he recorded his 14th European title. Meanwhile, in the Avon Tyres Caterham Superlight Challenge, 20-year-old David Mayes marked himself out as a talent for the future by clinching the title at Donington Park. Other champions in the UK included Wayne Boyd, who won the British Formula Ford Championship in his Avon-shod Mygale, while Jason Moore did the same in the Formula Palmer Audi Championship.