A major change to Formula 1 for the 2022 season will be the introduction of 18-inch tyres after half a century of wide sidewall tyres sitting on 13-inch rims. Pirelli is presenting the new tyres at Silverstone today and comments that “now it’s time to change to a more modern approach” with a dimension actually seen on today’s road cars.
Cooper Tire Europe has announced a continuation of its exclusive tyre supply to the FIA World Rallycross and FIA European Rallycross championships for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. This year’s World Rallycross season, which commences with the World RX of Norway on 12 June, will be the 8th contested on Cooper tyres.
TM Boano Factory Racing, an Enduro World Championship race team for the Italian motorcycle manufacturer TM, has chosen Maxxis as its exclusive tyre supplier for the 2021 FIM Enduro World Championship (EnduroGP) and the national 2021 Italian Enduro Championship.
Cars competing in the DTM race series will race exclusively on Michelin tyres during the 2021 season. As per the agreement signed that Michelin Motorsport signed with DTM management last week, the tyre maker will supply Michelin Pilot Sport GT S9M tyres as well as a range of associated services. Drivers will use the Michelin tyres for the first time at the DTM test drives on 7-8 April at the Hockenheimring and 4-6 May at the Lausitzring in Germany. The season starts on 18 June in Monza, Italy.
The BMW M2 CS Racing is the new entry-level model in the BMW M Motorsport product portfolio, and the car has its own race series. BMW M Motorsport is collaborating with motorsport agency tolimit to bring the BMW M2 Cup to European circuits this year. Each of the identical cars competing in the series will race on Goodyear tyres.
Pirelli will continue as presenting sponsor of and sole tyre supplier to the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, having signed a renewed deal with series organiser MotorSport Vision Racing (MSVR) to extend the partnership for a further five years through to the 2025 season. Pirelli also remains the title sponsor of the Superstock and Junior Superstock classes.
After debuting in 2020 as exclusive tyre supplier to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), having taken over from sister brand Dunlop, Goodyear has now signed up for a further five years. Goodyear Tyres and BTCC series organiser TOCA announced today that their partnership will continue through to the end of 2026 and through the introduction of hybrid power to the championship.
A new all-Porsche racing series commences in the USA and Canada next year, and Yokohama will serve as control tyre. The Porsche Sprint Challenge North America is a three-class series contested by the current and previous generations of Porsche 991 GT3 as well as the 718 Cayman Clubsport. All cars will race on Yokohama Advan racing tyres, with the Advan A005 slick the rubber of choice on dry tracks and the Advan A006 serving as wet weather tyre.
The FIM Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships will continue racing on Dunlop tyres for at least another three years following the extension of Dunlop’s contract with Dorna Sports. This means that Dunlop, who has partnered with Grand Prix motorcycle racing since its inauguration in 1949, will exclusively supply the two classes until at least the end of the 2023 season.
Despite disruption from the coronavirus pandemic, Pirelli maintained its schedule for developing the WRC tyres for the start of its three-year tenure as sole WRC tyre supplier in 2021. The tyre maker showed off the range today at an event on the opening day of Rally Italia Sardegna.
The Mini Challenge returns this weekend for its second set of races since its Covid-delayed start at Donington Park (1-2 August). The JCW field is linked to the British Touring Car Championship, both as a support series for the first time in 2020 and by virtue of its switch from Dunlop rubber to European sister brand Goodyear, which supplies the BTCC. The move to Goodyear, in the final year of its 2017 penned Dunlop supply deal, signifies the continued realignment of the Goodyear brand within motorsport. Having already returned to the international stage with top-flight series like the FIA World Endurance Championship, Goodyear wants to expand its presence in national series too. The Mini Challenge JCWs run on a variation of Goodyear’s new Eagle F1 SuperSport slick tyre range. The company stresses the strength of this move for the development of competitors looking to make the step up to the headline BTCC series.
Goodyear has revealed the bespoke Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyre that will be equipped to all cars in Pure ETCR. The series is the world’s first all-electric multi-brand touring car series. Goodyear is the exclusive tyre supplier and founding partner of the championship.
Pirelli has begun its 2021 World Rally Championship campaign with two days of private tyre testing in Sardinia. The first day is devoted to gravel and the second day on asphalt. At the wheel of Pirelli’s uniquely-liveried Citroen C3 WRC test car will be Norway’s Andreas Mikkelsen, co-driven by his compatriot Anders Jaeger. The former Volkswagen, Citroen and Hyundai factory driver will be spearheading the development of the latest-generation Pirelli Scorpion tyres for gravel and P Zero tyres for asphalt, which will be supplied exclusively to the World Rally Championship from 2021 to 2024. The new tyres will eventually join the studded Sottozero Ice already displayed at the 2020 GP Ice Race in January in the manufacturer’s WRC tyre line-up.
Goodyear will make its debut as a tyre supplier to the European Le Mans Series this weekend. The manufacturer is working alongside top teams in the LMP2 and LMGTE classes at the season-opening 4 Hours of Le Castellet. Goodyear’s latest tyre technology will be fitted to five front-running LMP2 prototypes and every car in the LMGTE field throughout the ELMS season. The brand’s entrance into the series follows last year’s fitments to LMP2 winners in the FIA World Endurance Championship. However the weekend will mark the first time that LMGTE cars have raced on the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyres. Having been delayed by the pandemic, the series will run over five races until November.
Hankook will supply tyres to Formula E as the series’ third generation tyre partner. The FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) confirmed Hankook after a tender process and FIA World Motor Sport Council approval. The world championship, which stages races in metropolitan areas around the globe, will run on “sustainably produced, particularly long-lasting and energy-saving Hankook tyres,” the manufacturer says. Tyres for Formula E have previously been supplied by Michelin, which was the series’ inaugural tyre partner.
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