Real Cars – Real Racing

By the time November’s Tyres & Accessories lands in readers’ mailboxes the final round of the FIA WTCC will most likely have been fought out in Macau and the winners of both the Drivers and Manufacturers Championships – both close run affairs at the end of round 20 in Monza – will be known to all. But for now we can only speculate whether or not a UK driver will stand victorious on the dais come November 18.

Whatever the outcome, 2007 has been a spectacular season for the championship, with the round contested on British soil no exception. The Brands Hatch circuit served as host to the WTCC on the weekend of September 22-23, and the four UK drivers competing in the two rounds presented their home crowd with very respectable results. The first race saw two local lads amongst the quickest three drivers across the line, with Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson and BMW’s Colin Turkington recording times less than a second behind race winner, Chevrolet’s Alain Menu. The afternoon’s racing ended with the UK’s Andy Priaulx, competing in a BMW320si, in first place. Third and fourth places were also grabbed by local drivers Robert Huff and Colin Turkington.

The day’s events at Brands Hatch were, as has each round this season, also a win for tyre manufacturer Yokohama. Now at the end of their second season as official tyre sponsor to the WTCC, the Japanese manufacturer views the championship as the prize jewel in its motorsport portfolio, which also includes amongst others the P-WRC, Le Mans 24 Hours Race and the Super GT Series. The WTCC uses the slogan “Real Cars, Real Racing” to promote the championship, and it is this very point, that the series is contested using cars that race fans can – should their pockets be sufficiently weighty – order from a dealer the following Monday that attracts a sizeable audience both in the UK and overseas.

This works to Yokohama’s advantage: While the Bridgestone rubber used in Formula One is several degrees of separation from the tyres fitted to the average passenger car, the Yokohama products that see action during the WTCC are, like the cars wearing them, recognisably related to the company’s retail offerings, even to the extent of employing the same Advan brand name. Thus Yokohama, and the Advan label, receives through the WTCC’s high profile a level of exposure not achievable through advertising alone, a fact Jim Blackstock, who handles motorsport public relations for Yokohama HPT, attests to. “WTCC is without a doubt key to brand awareness in the UK,” he told Tyres & Accessories. “It’s of vital importance.”

Yokohama has supplied two specifications of Advan tyre to WTCC drivers during the 2007 season: The Advan A005 racing slick in size 240/610R17 for dry conditions and the 230/610R17 Advan A006 for competing in the wet. A degree of versatility is required from the tyres; they must deliver consistently good performance in a multi vehicle brand series raced on three continents in vastly differing conditions. And according to UK Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson, the Advan tyres achieve this admirably. “Yokohama’s done a fantastic job to be honest,” he said between races at Brands Hatch. “It has to deal with a whole range of ambient temperatures, for example Brazil compared with the UK, and it’s handled this very well.”

“The tyre we’ve used is exceptionally good, not only in durability,” he continued. “We’ve had no failures so far, touch wood.” The British driver added that driving at Brands Hatch was always an experience he relished. “It’s the second quickest circuit we visit all year,” Thompson said. “It is always great to drive on circuits you know, and great being on home track, with home support – it’s a big advantage.”

The final outcome of the series is still impossible to call even after the penultimate rounds in Monza on October 6-7. In the Drivers Championship Andy Priaulx, on 81 points, shares the top spot with France’s Yvan Muller, and in the Manufacturers Championship only ten points separate competition leader BMW and second place holder Seat. As James Thompson pointed out at Brands Hatch, “the series is thoroughly enjoyable as there are not many championships with ten drivers in contention to win each race…you never know who’ll win.” And with each driver potentially able to walk away from Macau with an extra 20 points under his or her belt (Spain’s María De Villota is the sole female WTCC entrant for 2007), a total of six drivers still hold a chance of securing the Drivers Championship.

One thing that is already certain, however, is that Yokohama will be back again next year. In July the company announced it will continue supplying Advan tyres to the WTCC as control tyre for 2008 and 2009, and the wet weather tyre it plans to debut next year was tested during September at Norfolk’s Snetterton Race Circuit. Chevrolet and BMW both participated in testing on the artificially watered track, and Jim Blackstock reports that the new rain tyre provided a half to one second per lap advantage over the tyre it supplants. The tyre was granted FIA technical approval on October 6, which means it will be available for use from the opening round of the expanded 12 venue 2008 series, which gets underway in Brazil on March 2.