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.
Cooper Tire Europe will return to live motorsport competition next month when RallyX Nordic hosts the ‘All-Star Magic Weekend’ at Höljes. Planned with strict health and safety measures amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event will run behind closed doors over four days from 2-5 July. Cooper has continued to develop its support for rallycross in recent years, It added the exclusive supply deal for the next three British Rallycross Championship seasons last year.
As it is doing in the USA with its Road to Indy engagement, Cooper Tire will continue to race in the virtual world in Europe. The coming weeks will see the launch of the World RX Esports Invitational Series, with Cooper Tire Europe as tyre ‘supplier’.
The season start of many motorsport events has been delayed due to the coronavirus. Unable to get cars out on the track, US-based racecar driver development programme the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires has gone virtual with a new five-race e-series. This e-series allows drivers from Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship to compete against one another using race simulators.
Pirelli has served as sole tyre supplier to the British GT Championship since 2016 and has announced its return for a fifth season in 2020 – with a pair of new-spec tyres. Competitors in the GT3 category will race on the Pirelli P Zero DHE tyre this season, a product that replaces the prior-generation DHD2. Cars in the slightly less powerful GT4 category will wear another new tyre, the Pirelli P Zero DHB, successor to the DH.
Under a new three-year agreement, Cooper Tire Europe will supply its rallycross tyres to the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship. While all six of the championship’s competitive categories remain open to all tyre suppliers in 2020, this will change in 2021 and 2022 with Cooper becoming the exclusive tyre range for the ‘Production 4×4’, ‘Production’ and ‘Junior’ categories. The championship’s formal name also changes this season to the BTRDA Clubmans Rallycross Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
The motorsport calendar now includes an all-new event – the world’s first all-electric, multi-brand touring car championship. Pure ETCR vehicles will be equipped with a Williams Advanced Engineering battery unit and a 500kW Magelec Propulsion powertrain – the equivalent of a staggering 680bhp – that drives the rear wheels and enables 0 to 100km/h acceleration in just 3.2 seconds. This torquey power will be delivered to the racetrack via products supplied by one of Pure ETCR’s founder partners – Goodyear.
Goodyear
Goodyear
Goodyear
Pirelli
Clement Marin
Hankook
Cooper Tire Europe