Giti: If they can handle this, you can trust them anywhere

Three consecutive seasons, one set of tyres. The modified Mercedes 1622 800HP of Giti-sponsored Truck Team Holten has just achieved this noteworthy distinction after securing a hard-fought seventh place in Rallye Breslau 2022. Giti Tire calls this the “ultimate test” for its products.

Held every year in Poland and described by some as the ‘Dakar of Europe’, the race is recognised as one of the world’s leading extreme off-road events. Teams battle an 800-mile, five-day cross-country rally programme on a mix of exceptionally difficult terrains, including the new for 2022 Hannibal Stage, a night marathon that took drivers and their vehicles into an unknown, pitch-black area with just a road book to guide them through the wilderness. The Netherlands-based team entered two vehicles in the Extreme Trucks category, both driving on Giti GAO897 Off Road tyres in size 14.00R20.

The Mercedes team delivered a highly respectable performance, with seven top ten finishes in a field of 17. The team’s Scania 4×4 630 started well, completing qualifying and the first few rounds before succumbing to a broken rear drive shaft at the end of stage four. Unfortunately, this meant missing the night stage, however, they managed to make repairs before the final leg to finish the race.

Truck Team Holten’s Scania 4×4 630 completed qualifying & several rounds before succumbing to a broken rear drive shaft (Photo: Giti Tire)

Knowledge applied to next truck tyre generation

”I have driven for three years on this one set of tyres. It’s unbelievable in this rough terrain with many stones, unexpected wood spikes and bumps that can take the tyres over two metres in the air that I’ve never even had a flat tyre,” states Hans Van Geest, driver of the Holten Mercedes. Scania navigator Guido Vredenberg adds: “The tyres and suspension are the most important things in a rally like this, you need the grip and the tyre needs to be on the ground. If you don’t have a strong tyre or if you don’t have grip, you can have 1,000 horsepower but you can’t do anything with it.”

Maikel Follon, technical field engineer for Giti Tire and tyre support for Rallye Breslau, declares that “this is the ultimate test for our tyres,” adding that “if they can handle this you can trust them anywhere.

“It’s incredible on these surfaces that the tyre still manages to go up to 70˚ Celsius while naturally the air temperature dramatically increases also, so we can see what types of pressures our tyres can handle and how they are performing at that moment,” Follon continues. “All this information is then used by our teams around the world, including our European research and development centre in Hannover, Germany, as they develop the next generation of everyday tyres for cars and trucks.”