After serving as sole tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) since 2021, Pirelli will pass on the baton at the end of next season. The tyre maker has announced having “not submitted its candidature” to supply WRC from 2025-2027. As a result, Pirelli will conclude its partnership as a single supplier to the WRC in 2024.
Cooper Tires has entered into partnerships in the United Kingdom with Wiltshire Air Ambulance and Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team in Yorkshire. Each provides first-response assistance, and Cooper says it is supplying tyres to these organisations to fit vehicles such as the Volvo XC90, BMW X5 or Land Rover Discovery 5 to provide the grip, versatility and durability needed.
According to comments from Florent Menegaux, we shouldn’t expect to see Michelin in Formula One from 2025. Speaking to US-based automotive site The Drive, the chief executive stated that Michelin isn’t interested in supplying tyres to F1 unless the FIA alters its view on how they should perform. In short, the French firm doesn’t want to make tyres that liven proceedings by falling apart.
Sponsors tend to come and go in the fast-moving world of motorsport, making Kumho’s relationship with the BMW Racing Drivers Club one of the longest of its type in UK club history – the opening race of the season at Brands Hatch on 8 April will mark its 26th year.
On 20 March the FIA published an invitation to participate in the next tender process for tyre supply to the F1, F2 & F3 championships from 2025 to 2027, with an option for 2028. Confirming its interest in participating in the tyre tender process, Pirelli observes that the tender document “outlines technical characteristics that are broadly in line” with the Pirelli-supplied tyres currently used in these championships.
With the installation of a new high-speed machine within its R&D department, Pirelli is now equipped to test tyres at speeds of up to 310 mph. The Italian marque shared news of this enhanced testing capability shortly after the FIA issued an invitation to tender for F1 tyre supply from 2025.
Last weekend, Dunlop began its tenure as the exclusive tyre supplier to the highest echelon of Italian two-wheeled motorsport, the top Superbike category of the Campionato Italiano Velocità (CIV).
The organisers of the Campionato Italiano Velocità (CIV) have selected Dunlop as the exclusive tyre supplier for the championship’s flagship Superbike category, in a deal spanning the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The arrangement was announced during a pre-season presentation at the MotorBikeExpo and makes Dunlop sole tyre supplier for three of CIV’s five categories, as the brand is already the tyre partner to the Italian platform’s Moto3 and Pre-Moto3 classes.
In August Goodyear unveiled the treaded tyre it will supply to the new Pure ETCR electric touring car championship when it gets underway next year, and since then has benefitted from technical feedback supplied by series promoter Eurosport Events and the technical department at WSC Group. Working with this feedback, Goodyear has finalised the specification of the specially-developed Eagle F1 SuperSport race tyre.
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.
Just before Christmas, Motorsport UK announced it had selected Cooper Tire Europe as exclusive tyre supplier for the coming three British Rallycross Championship seasons, and as such is renaming the championship the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy Presented by Cooper Tires. The tyre maker says it is “excited” to extend its motorsport supply portfolio.
Bridgestone’s position within the motocross tyre segment has been strengthened by its selection by Britain’s most decorated rider of all time, who labelled the range as “amazing”. In what Bridgestone describes as a “huge breakthrough”, the brand will be fitted to all bikes at Dave Thorpe’s Honda Off-Road Centre as well as to each bike at his Honda Adventure Centre.
Testing for the Extreme E off-road electric racing series began earlier this month at the Château de Lastours off-road proving grounds in the south of France. One question the tested aimed to answer during proceedings was how well the car and tyres work together. They also looked into any potential weaknesses in the electric race car’s physical and technical design, not least in its motor. The tests lasted several days and were run by Continental, tyre supplier to Extreme E, and Spark Racing Technology.
From next year, Goodyear will replace its sister brand Dunlop as sole tyre supplier to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Goodyear says the decision comes with a view to enhancing the Goodyear brand within the motorsport and ultra-ultra-high-performance (UUHP) segments. Goodyear first returned to motorsport outside North America at the end of August with the opening round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Silverstone.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.