Giti Tire secures first VW Fun Cup UK podium finish at European event
(l-r) Hadley and Gies on the podium following their third place finish
GT Radial’s VW Fun Cup UK team has secured its first ever podium finish, taking third place in the European event at Circuit Zandvoort, Holland. The team was led by Giti Tire’s seasoned race and senior test engineer, Ellis Hadley and ADAC GT Masters Series competitor and Hannover R&D Centre student, André Gies, battling a 26-car field, early safety car interruptions, a non-functioning lap timer and a broken radio in their dash for the dais.
The team finished 45.390 seconds behind eventual race winners Sheradize UK, 40.433 behind second place 2Rent/Dominos and just 1.246 seconds ahead of fourth placed Dispatch Bay.
Giti Tire is into its third season as the Official Tyre Partner of the VW Fun Cup UK, supplying Giti GTR2 tyres. These are part of a comprehensive range of competition racing portfolio used in events around the world.
In addition the company has raced a fully-livered GT Radial racing car to promote the brand through TV and directly with race spectators, as well as through GT Performance Centres (GTPC) with exclusive UK distributor, Micheldever Tyre Services.
Brian McDermott, country manager – UK for Giti Tire, said: “To participate at Zandvoort the drivers required a European Racing Licence, so we decided to choose our drivers carefully and really go for it! Both Ellis and André did fantastically well, kudos to them both for achieving third place in what was a phenomenally tough race.
“But there is also still the serious side, the tyres will go back to our R&D Centre so the proven technology findings can be adapted to further develop our everyday passenger car portfolios, plus we saw fantastic pan-European media coverage. All-in-all a hugely successful weekend.”
The Fun Cup endurance championship was launched in the UK in 2002, with the clearly defined objective of providing cost-effective, close, exciting racing.
With a grid regularly topping 30, the cars are identical, race designed, single-seaters with a super-strong space frame chassis based on the Volkswagen Beetle. They are powered by an 1800cc, 130 bhp VW/Audi petrol engine with a Sadev sequential gearbox as well as race brakes and fully adjustable suspension.
GT Radial’s VW Fun Cup car
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