Nascar Whelan Euro Series driver Scott Jeffs will join the GT Radial team for their next VW Fun Cup race in Thruxton on 22 August. Jeffs is a former Mini Challenge UK Cooper S Class champion, and became Alex Sedgwick’s Elite 2 partner in the no.90 AST Suspension Chevrolet Camaro for Braxx Racing. He will race at Thruxton with Brian McDermott, country manager – UK and Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire.
With the VW Fun Cup 2020 season ready to commence its reduced calendar of five rounds, Giti Tire has confirmed that it is maintaining its position as Official Tyre Partner. The tyre manufacturer will also participate, racing its fully livered GT Radial car. Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire, will line-up on the grid alongside seasoned racing enthusiasts from the GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) network. The VW Fun Cup will start with a One Hour Sprint Race and a Four Hour Endurance Race on 8 August at Snetterton, before hitting Thruxton, Silverstone and the season finale at Oulton Park on 17 October. All cars in the competition run on GitiCompete GTR2 tyres.
Giti Tire has extended its support of MotoFest Coventry with an evening circuit programme for the first time. The main GT Radial sprint circuit will host a full track programme on the Saturday night, including a dynamic display of wheel to wheel motorsport from teams involved in the VW Fun Cup UK series.
Giti Tire has extended its exclusive distribution agreement with Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS) for its GT Radial and Runway brands for a further four years. The new deal, which runs until 2022, will continue to cover the passenger car, 4×4 and light truck tyre segments. Tyrepress understands that certain car and SUV sizes of Giti Tire’s eponymous Giti brand will continue to be available via Micheldever, where no equivalent GT Radial-branded tyre is currently available. The brand was first added to Micheldever’s inventory in 10 such sizes in 2018.
Giti Tire’s all-round passenger car tyres, the GT Radial Champiro FE1 and FE1 City have reached a major milestone. The tyres have sold two-and-a-half million units in Europe. The range has been on the market for four and a half years, with the original tyre joined by a model tuned to micro and supermini city cars in 2017.
Giti Tire has developed its GT Radial all-season product range, available in the UK from exclusive distributor Micheldever, off the back of an encouraging run of sales for its initial product for this growth market. Tyres & Accessories spoke to Brian McDermott, country manager UK for Giti Tire, to get the latest on how the manufacturer is shaping its range for the segment, which appears to have gained more of a footing in the UK than specialist winter tyres have previously managed.
Giti Tire’s GT Radial Ride and Drive Day at Horiba Mira, held in partnership with exclusive brand distributor passenger for car, SUV/4×4 and light truck tyres, Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS), was attended by a capacity group of 40 new and existing customers. A mixture of independent garage owners representing potential partners and GT Radial Performance Centres (GTPCs) were given the opportunity to test out the GT Radial passenger car tyre portfolio on the test centre’s circuits, including the wet handling circuit in Golf GTIs on both the FE1 and SportActive tyres, and the wet circles ‘drifting’ in a new BMW 3.
GT Radial is the new main sprint circuit sponsor at this weekend’s Power Maxed MotoFest Coventry 2019. During the UK’s largest urban motorsports festival weekend, the MotoFest Coventry track, created from the city’s ring road, will be named the GT Radial sprint circuit. As part of the sponsorship agreement, GT Radial will run its VW Fun Cup cars on the sprint circuit on both days of the festival weekend.
Giti Tire has launched the GT Radial Maxmiler AllSeason, a four-season tyre for the European van and light truck markets. Carrying the Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) symbol of its sidewall, the product is initially available in 13 SKUs with 15C-16C” rims, section widths from 195-235 and series sizes from 65-75. Load indices range from 104-115.
Year-on-year growth in the SUV tyre segment has become something of a given in recent years. The popularity of this market segment has been a beacon for car-makers in Europe, as the number of new models in the last decade shows. In terms of tyres, this has meant increases in larger, higher value products, both in the original equipment and replacement markets, the results of which are analysed elsewhere in this section. Volume and value growth in the UK replacement market, at 10 and 15 per cent respectively, has been healthy again in the last year.
Giti Tire is follow the season in which it achieved its first podium finish, taking third place at Holland’s Circuit Zandvoort, by continuing its close involvement in the VW Fun Cup. It will mark its fourth year as official tyre partner in 2019. There are eight endurance races scheduled for 2019, lasting from three to eight hours with two to four drivers. Giti will also run its fully livered GT Radial car.
To meet growing market demand, this year an all-season product joins the GT Radial portfolio. The GT Radial 4Seasons will go on sale in the UK this September, and Giti Tire says initial response to the newcomer has been very positive.
GT Radial’s VW Fun Cup UK team has secured its first ever podium finish, taking third place in the European event at Circuit Zandvoort, Holland. The team was led by Giti Tire’s seasoned race and senior test engineer, Ellis Hadley and ADAC GT Masters Series competitor and Hannover R&D Centre student, André Gies, battling a 26-car field, early safety car interruptions, a non-functioning lap timer and a broken radio in their dash for the dais.
Giti Tire reports that its preparations for The Tire Cologne are in full swing. The tyre maker will be there with its two core European brands, Giti and GT Radial, displaying a range of original and aftermarket equipment for passenger car, 4×4, light and heavy truck.
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