Avon Tyres Secures 3-Year BRSCC Formula Ford Deal
The British Racing and Sports Car Club has chosen Avon Tyres to supply tyres to both of its Formula Ford 1600 Championships for the next three years, and will also support the club to help it promote its showpiece event – the Formula Ford Festival. “Naturally, we’re delighted to have secured the agreement to supply FF1600 for another three years,” said Paul Coates, general manager, Avon Tyres Motorsport. “We’re very keen to work with the BRSCC on further initiatives to secure the long-term future of FF1600.”
Continue ReadingYokohama-Sponsored Baja Racers Happy with Geolander Tyre
One of off-road racing's toughest tests, Yokohama Tire-sponsored racers took on the SCORE Baja 1000 between 17 and 20 November using the manufacturer’s Geolander M/T+ tyres. Heidi Steele achieved a third-place finish in Class 6 for unlimited, production mini trucks. Driving her customary Ford Ranger, Steele, the two-time defending Class 6 champ, and her co-drivers and Desert Assassins teammates Rene Brugger and Pat Dailey, finished the gruelling 1061.69-mile course in 27:43:10.
Continue ReadingDunlop Ends DTM Supply, Hankook Expected to Take Over
Dunlop has announced the impending discontinuation of its exclusive tyre supply of the touring car masters’ series, the DTM. This decision to part ways with what is called Europe’s most popular touring car race series was jointly reached with series promoter ITR e.V following several months of negotiations; the official end of supply on December 31 will close the book on a relationship in place since the championship’s revival in 2000. The ITR says details of a replacement tyre and series partner will be announced ‘right after’ an agreement is officially signed. It is widely known that Hankook is to be this partner; the Korean manufacturer is said to have outbid Dunlop for the position and is expected to sign a contract up to 2013 as soon as the current race season is over.
Continue ReadingNew Kumho F3 Euro Series Control Tyre
Kumho has created an all-new control tyre for the 2011 Formula 3 Euro Series. The final specification of the new tyre resulted from two days of comprehensive evaluation at the renowned Vallelunga circuit in Italy. It will be made available to the teams from the first official test session onwards. Kumho supplied four different specifications of tyre for the 900 kilometres carried out by Dutch F3 driver Renger van der Zande – two completely new designs and two new compounds – each of which was compared with the 2010 specification covers. “The chosen tyre is incredibly good,” van der Zande commented adding: “The performance for fast qualifying laps and race pace consistency are equally remarkable.”
Continue ReadingYokohama Supplying Macau Grand Prix Tyres for 28th Consecutive Year
When the F3 race cars take their positions on the starting for this year’s Macau Grand Prix, which gets underway on November 18, each of the 32 competing vehicles will be fitted with tyres supplied by Yokohama Rubber. This is hardly surprising, given that the Japanese tyre maker has acted as official tyre supplier to this particular race for more than a generation. This year marks the 28th consecutive occasion in which Yokohama has provided tyres for the Macau Grand Prix, having begun in the role of official tyre supplier in 1983.
Continue ReadingMetzeler Renews National Superstock Tyre Supply Agreement
Pirelli recently renewed its tyre supply commitments to the British Superbike (BSB) and Supersport Championships, and now the company’s Metzeler brand has been confirmed as the control tyre supplier for the 1000ccc and 600cc National Superstock championships for a further five years. The German based manufacturer says these two “important production based classes within the prestigious MCE British Superbike series” have great importance as they offer Metzeler the chance to demonstrate the quality of its ‘over the counter’ tyres.
Continue ReadingKumho Sees Mortara Win Euro F3 Series to Crown “Successful” Motorsport Season
Kumho has been the official tyre supplier to the Formula Three Euro Series since 2003. The newly-crowned 2010 Euro F3 champion on Kumho’s slicks is Edoardo Mortara. He contested the series previously in 2008, then had a year in GP2 before returning to F3 this year. He holds duel Italian and French nationality but races under the Italian flag and is responsible for two firsts for the series: the first victory for the French Signature team and the first for a VW-engined car. As official supplier, Kumho makes some 10,000 tyres available to the series per annum.
Continue ReadingPirelli Renews BSB Control Tyre Supply Contract
For the past three years Pirelli has served as control tyre supplier to the British Superbike (BSB) and Supersport Championships, providing riders with a range of its Diablo tyres, some 5,500 of which are supplied and fitted over a typical race weekend by a team of 17 tyre technicians. Series organiser MotorSport Vision Ltd has now confirmed that Pirelli will continue in this role after successfully bidding for the supply tender covering the 2011 to 2015 seasons.
Continue ReadingAustralian Formula Ford Extends Contract with Avon
The Genuine Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship has extended its deal with Avon Tyres, with the brand continuing as the championship’s control tyre supplier for at least the next three years. Avon’s tyres will be distributed and engineered through the season by Gordon Leven Motorsport Tyres, which continues its 15-year involvement supplying Avon rubber to the championship. All tyres will be manufactured at Cooper Tire’s plant in Melksham, England.
Continue ReadingMichelin Power Cup 2010 Results
Last weekend saw the 2010 Michelin Power Cup race series draw to a close as the final round took place at a cloudy but mainly dry Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. In the 1000cc class Jonathan Otter took first place with second and third places taken by Greg Allsop and Rhalf Lo Turco, respectively. In the 600cc class, Will Monie took the top spot with Adrian Allsopp and Andy Rouse following in second and third places.
Continue ReadingYokohama Celebrates 100 WTC Races in “Incredibly Busy” Motorsport Year
Japanese tyre manufacturer Yokohama celebrated its 100th race as official tyre supplier to the FIA World Touring Car Championship earlier this year, having supplied the control tyre to the series since 2006. Commenting on the season, Yokohama HPT’s Motorsport manager, Mark Evans, said: “We’ve seen another exceptional year of competition in the WTCC, which is a superb environment to showcase the brand’s performance.” The ADVAN wet and dry racing tyres have drawn critical acclaim from the competitors, with the manufacturer developing products that suit both the front and rear wheel drive cars competing.
Continue ReadingKumho Mentioned in BBC Motorsport Coverage
Kumho reports that it enjoyed 4mins and 35secs of exposure during the BBC’s recent Korean Grand Prix coverage. Not in relation to F1, but through footage of the recent rally success of the show’s ebullient anchorman, Jake Humphrey, and long-standing Kumho-sponsored rally driver and Sky TV pundit, Tony Jardine. The event, the Cambrian Rally, was Humphrey’s first ever rally and he took to the sport sufficiently quickly to guide the Ford-Fiesta-mounted pair to an impressive second in class. Running on Kumho rally tyres, their Fiesta was suitably adorned with Kumho stickers, while Kumho logos were clearly visible on the crew’s overalls. The team’s exploit’s also received a good airing in The Sun newspaper, which was another of their sponsors.
Continue ReadingHankook’s Mikkelsen to Build on Scottish 2nd in IRC Final Round
Hankook says it is ready to round off its Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign in style with driver Andreas Mikkelsen when Cyprus hosts the final round this weekend. The Norwegian finished second overall in the recent Rally of Scotland and is hoping to be back on the podium on the FXPro Cyprus Rally which gets underway on Thursday. Mikkelsen and co-driver Ole Fløene will once again be in the Hankook Ford Fiesta S2000 – the M-Sport prepared car the team has used during its 2010 programme of events.
Continue ReadingToyo Tires Enjoys “Successful” Goodwood Revival
Having attended Goodwood events in the past Toyo Tires has reported another “successful” year at the Goodwood Revival, at which it was the exclusive Tyre Partner for the first time. To mark the occasion, VIP Toyo customers previewed two brand new road tyres in the Proxes range, the ultra high performance Proxes T1 Sport and the Proxes C1S, tyres built for performance and ride comfort respectively. Both tyres will be made available from 2011. Toyo said that it was looking forward to continuing its deal with the event in 2011.
Continue ReadingYokohama’s Home WTCC Stage to Equal Japanese Entrant Record
Japanese racing talent will go head-to-head with some of the world’s best touring car drivers when the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) returns to Okayama, Japan, on 31 October, 2010. The home race of official tyre supplier Yokohama will have four local drivers competing, equalling the 2008 record for the most Japanese entries in a WTCC race.
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