Prepared & ready: Hankook awaits Formula E race debut
Hankook Tire, new official technical partner and tyre supplier of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and title sponsor of the current season’s opening race, says it is “prepared and ready” for its engagement in the all-electric race series. The Hankook Mexico City E-Prix takes place on 14 January and is the first of eleven race weekends around the world this year that will host a total of 16 races.
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Pirelli supplying ADAC-powered DTM
Not only does the DTM touring car championship have a new home as part of Europe’s largest motoring association, the ADAC, changes are also afoot in the tyre department. Pirelli, who has long equipped another ADAC-backed series, is taking over from Michelin as exclusive DTM tyre supplier in 2023.
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Hankook becomes title sponsor of Mexico, Rome London finale E-Prix
Hankook will commence its role as the new official technical partner and tyre supplier of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2023. The manufacturer, which is taking over from the original tyre supplier to the championship, Michelin, will further underline its commitment to the series with title sponsorship of three rounds in 2023, including the season finale in London. Hankook has invested heavily in the marketing of its new line of tyres for electric vehicles in 2022, the iON series. The manufacturer will supply the iON Race to Formula E, having tested the tyre in Valencia in December.
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Yokohama to supply more sustainable racing tyres to 2023 Super Formula races
Yokohama will supply Advan racing tyres with 33 per cent sustainable material content as the control tyre for the Japanese Super Formula Championship from the 2023 season. The tyre supplier said work on the tyre for dry conditions is complete, while wet tyre development continues with a view to providing both to the series from next year. Yokohama says the tyres have demonstrated performance equivalent to that of the standard tyres used in Super Formula 2022 races.
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Giti Tire truck racing: BTRC positions brand centre-stage with Top Gear
The British Truck Racing Championship put Giti Tire on centre-stage as a special feature on the premier British motoring show Top Gear became one of the company’s 2022 highlights. The manufacturer is the Official Partner and Exclusive Tyre Supplier to the BTRC, while Team Oliver, of which it is a sponsor, provided competitive success, finishing third overall. Giti’s involvement with the series went up a notch in 2022; all competition trucks were fitted with Giti Race-Tuned v1 global competition truck tyres in size 315/70R22.5 for the first time. Giti said that feedback from the teams had been “overwhelmingly positive”.
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Falken Motorsports reviews 2022 endurance and drifting action
Falken Motorsports’ Nürburgring-based GT programme and drifting action resulted in another memorable season for the brand in 2022. The endurance racing team claimed two memorable victories, while Cork-based Falken drifter James Deane augmented pan-European competition with a return to the mainstream automotive media, with a Top Gear Magazine video feature.
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Firestone race tyre with guayule natural rubber debuts in 2022
The Firestone Firehawk guayule race tyre made its on-track debut in the United States in 2022. The tyre’s latest outing took place at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville in August, in another milestone in the efforts of Firestone and the NTT Indycar Series to promote sustainability. This new, eco-friendly tyre first debuted in May during the Ruoff Mortgage Pit Stop Challenge on Race Week of the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. It is partially composed of a new sustainable natural rubber derived from the guayule shrub, which requires less reharvesting than traditional sources of rubber.
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Erik Willems wins Enduro European Championship on Dunlop Geomax EN91
Dunlop rider Erik Willems was crowned 2022 Enduro European Champion following the final meeting of the season in Rudersdorf, Germany. The Belgian rider raced a Husqvarna with standard Dunlop Geomax EN91 tyres, winning both the overall and E2 classes. The victory marks the continuation of a successful partnership between rider and tyre supplier. In 2021, Willems raced with Dunlop in the enduro Junior World Championship and moved up to win the European Championship in his debut season at the top of European enduro competition.
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New independent directors appointed to Motorsport UK board
Katrina-May Kwan and Nick Pontefract have been appointed to the board of Motorsport UK as independent non-executive directors. Pontefract joined Sport England in 2018 as chief strategy officer. He has led the development and delivery of the body’s new strategy to tackle inequalities in grassroots sports participation. He is a former senior civil servant at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, where he worked from 2005, including leading the bid for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. He was also a board member of Yorkshire 2019 Ltd, the organising committee for the 2019 UCI Road World Championships.
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Continental builds basketball court from recycled Extreme E CrossContact tyres
Continental’s foundational support of electric-powered off-road racing series Extreme E, whose second season ended on 27 November 2022 in Uruguay, was inspired by the all-encompassing ethos of sustainability. Now the tyre supplier has joined the globetrotting series’ participation in a variety of technology and environmental sustainability programmes by “turning racing tyres into living space.” Conti’s used Extreme E tyres are now being used in the construction of a new basketball court in Hanover for children to play and train. The manufacturer is supplying rubber paving stones as a donation.
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Goodyear supports 2022 FIA European Truck Racing Championship
Goodyear is a long-term headline supporter and tyre supplier of one the most heavyweight forms of motorsport: truck racing. The tyre manufacturer says supplying the tyres on which the series competes demonstrates the performance, durability and sustainability of its truck tyre technology. The 2022 Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship season ended in Jarama, Spain on 2 October, the last of eight rounds, with Norbert Kiss winning his fourth title. Teo Calvet fending off close competition to win the Goodyear FIA ETRC Promoter’s Cup.
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Goodyear, rFactor closing gap between real and virtual racing
Goodyear is contributing to the pursuit of increased realism in virtual racing via its collaboration with Studio 397, developer of the hyper-realistic rFactor 2 simulation engine. The tyre manufacturer says its partnership has led to a major step forward in replicating race tyre model behaviours in the virtual environment. Such developments allow esports drivers to get closer than ever to the experiences of their real-life counterparts. The engine, which uses thousands of data points to create an immersive and authentic experience, is used in the Le Mans Virtual Series, of which Goodyear is an official partner.
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Continental recycles Extreme E tyres into basketball court
Continental is donating rubber paving stones made from recycled Extreme E tyres for the construction of a community basketball court in Hanover. According to Continental, 200 Extreme E tyres have been recycled from the first season. The Extreme E tyres underwent “a particularly complex manufacturing process to extract all chemical components from the tyres” before transforming them into paving stones. Now the tyres will be given a second life as the foundation of a high-level basketball court.
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Hankook iON race to debut at Essen Motor Show
The public launch of the new Hankook iON race will take place at the Essen Motor Show early next month, ahead of the tyre’s competitive debut at the Mexico City E-Prix on 14 January 2023. Hankook Tire is an exclusive technical partner and tyre supplier to Formula E and has developed a tyre specifically for the series that contains around 30 per cent sustainable materials.
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Fun Cup history – GT Radial #97’s all-female driver line-up
GT Radial car number 97 made history in the 2022 Fun Cup Endurance Championship, becoming the competition’s first ever vehicle driven by an all-female line-up. Experienced racers Wendy Ellis-Smith, Michelle Hayward and Zoe Burke came together for the first time at Snetterton in July. They finished ninth in a field of 19 having started in pole position. In addition to its all-female weekend, Giti used its entry in the Fun Cup to bring together racing legends, celebrities and influencers to pilot the car, led by Giti Tire’s senior test engineer Ellis Hadley. Looking back on the 2022 competition, the GT Radial team said it had enjoyed several memorable achievements.
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