Nathan Freke Wins Drag Race on Maragoni Tyres

2006 Formula Ford Champion and Indy Lights Racing competitor Nathan Freke who recently successfully completed the Nürburgring 24 Hours in a Marangoni Fiat 500, added yet more success for the Italian tyre manufacturer in the Ten of the Best at Elvington Airfield. Ten of the Best is a unique speed event where all competitor vehicles have to be road legal with MOT, Insurance and Tax. In his self-prepared Toyota MR2 Turbo fitted with Marangoni Zeta Linea tyres he followed his 2007 European best time in the Mile Drag section with another dominant Class win of 10.84 seconds@ 129mph.

The only rear wheel drive car in the Top 20, Nathan posted the 12th fastest time overall against 4-wheel drive competition, netting a haul of: Fastest RWD time, Fastest RWD Turbo car and Fastest Japanese RWD in addition to his RWD Drag Race Shootout Championship. Putting his Marangoni Zeta Linea tyres against the opposition in the Standing Kilometre, Nathan and the MR2 posted 7th overall across all classes, finishing with a run of 169.9mph in 20.36 seconds.

Against mighty opposition such as 8-litre Dodge Vipers, 3.6 litre Toyota Supras and a 3.5 litre twin turbo Ford Granada among others, the performance of the MR2/Freke combination was awesome. Nathan praised the all-round track tyre performance of the Marangoni Zeta Linea – 16 inch 205 45 front and 16 inch 225 45 rear and the Marangoni Mythos that he uses for the road – 17 inch 215 45 front and 17 inch 245 40 rear. “I ran the same tyres for eight runs”, he said “and I was totally confident in the car.”

Said Derek Carruthers, Global Sales & Marketing Director Marangoni Car Tyre: “Nathan’s performance was simply sensational. His choice of Zeta Linea race tyres demonstrated the performance heritage of the tyre, developed directly from the UHP road tyre and proven in the Italian Mazda RX8 race series. For our performance customers, this is another compelling demonstration of Marangoni’s commitment to Motorsport as being the ultimate R&D laboratory. The Marangoni message is linked directly to on-track success and this represents huge brand exposure which will continue to benefit all Marangoni retailers.”

For the independent retailer, Marangoni’s ongoing impressive performances in the Motorsport arena can only result in generating higher volumes of “performance driver” customers. Continued Derek Carruthers, “The range of motor sport disciplines that Marangoni is involved with in 2008 – Drifting, Endurance Racing, Drag Racing and Hill climbing – all demand the ultimate performance from our tyres. The increasingly high profile Marangoni is achieving is generating massive credibility for the brand. ‘Race Proven – Road Certain’ is the message that all Marangoni retailers can display with confidence.”