Team Hankook Comes 3rd/4th at Nürburgring 24 Hour Race

Team “Hankook H&R Special Springs” from Alzen Motorsport, driving a Porsche Cayman-based Racing-Coupé, finished 4th out of 230 cars (157 finishers) at the 24-hour race at Nürburgring (Germany) in front of 200,000 spectators. At the event, a major fixture on the international motor racing calendar and one that is watched closely by the global automotive industry, Hankook Tire hosted more than 200 partners and guests from all over Europe in its lounge. They were welcomed by the Hankook Group’s CTO & CPO, Hwi-Joong Kim. He was accompanied by Hankook’s CMO Hyun-Shick Cho, the CSO & CFO Hyun-Bum Cho, along with the head of the European Hankook operations, Seung-Do Jin, to celebrate the upcoming opening of its new, 500 million euros production facility in Hungary, Hankook’s first in Europe, later this month.

The ambitious team with its technical partner Hankook Tire, the fastest growing European tyre manufacturer, started from position six after qualifying with their fastest lap in 8:51:31 minutes. The 2007 race in “Green Hell” marked the 24-hour spectacle’s 35th year.

Hyun-Shick Cho, CMO of Hankook Tire, said: “We take a strategic approach to motor sports partnerships and concentrate on endurance racing, using the events as proving grounds for our high performance technology. We are fortunate to have an exceptional racing partner in Alzen. A fourth place finish is a superb result and a huge victory for future Hankook Tire customers, who will benefit from better durability, handling and cornering tested under the extreme racing conditions witnessed over the last 24 hours.”

Hankook Tire will take part in the three other 24 hour classics by the end of 2009: the Le Mans 24 hour race in France, the Daytona 24 hr race in USA and the SPA 24 hour race in Belgium.