Giti-sponsored truck team Holten completes Rallye Breslau

Giti-sponsored truck racing team Holten finished one of the world’s leading extreme off-road events with only one set of Giti tyres. Described as the “Dakar of Europe”, the Rallye Breslau in Poland is a five-day, 1,300km cross-country rally across some of the most difficult terrains. The Netherlands-based team entered a modified Mercedes 1622 800HP and a Scania 4×4 630 in a field of 28 vehicles in the Extreme Trucks category.

Driving on Giti GAO897 Off Road tyres in size 14.00R20, both units managed to successfully navigate Monday’s course but severe damage to the front axle of the Scania finished its race on the Tuesday daytime.

On Tuesday night the Mercedes successfully navigated the dunes stage to stand ninth, and on Wednesday travelled cross country to the second base at Gwda Wielka where it finished in 12^th position.

The tyres, vehicles and drivers faced worsening conditions on the Thursday when clear skies gave way to rainy weather making conditions treacherous, and even despite a broker rear suspension which lost 20 minutes the team finished in seventh.

After a long night fixing the truck for the final stage, Friday saw an outstanding performance which resulted in an overall standing of eighth place.

The Scania 4×4 630 was forced to retire on day two because of severe damage to the front axle

Stefan Fischer, managing director – product technology at Giti Tire Europe, said: “It is almost impossible to describe what the tyres go through at the Rallye Breslau. With deep mud, craggy rocks, mountains, sand and rivers, plus the extreme forces they are subjected to, they really do face every object imaginable.

“So to say that we suffered no critical tyre damage or punctures the whole race and that the drivers were really happy with the tyres in both wet and dry conditions is a huge achievement and testament to the quality of Giti tyres.

“As with track motorsport we will now take these tyres and study their condition to see exactly what we can learn, and this information will be considered across not just our truck and bus ranges, but our light truck and passenger car portfolios as well.”