Stephen McKeown wins Formula 1 Era Superbike Championship on Avon Tyres
The Formula 1 Era Superbike champion has been crowned, and Stephen McKeown was helped to his title by Avon Tyres, the sponsor of the series. McKeown took the Irish and Ulster Championships of the series on his Aprilia RSV1000 Mille, with eight wins and two second places during the season. This marks the first time a major international series has been won on Avon tyres since the 1990s.
AJS Tyres proprietor completes Rallye des Cimes on single set of General’s Grabber MT
The proprietor of AJS Tyres and specialist AJS 4x4 in Lower Kingswood for over 35 years, Andy Sargeant was British Off Road Champion in 1989 and has competed in more off-road rallies than he cares to remember. He says the most important thing in any form of motorsport – or indeed in general driving – is to keep a full set of inflated tyres under your vehicle to have full control. So when he defeated the tough conditions of the recent Rallye des Cimes in his Defender 110 TD5 – the self-styled “Cimes Tractor” – the fact that he did it on the new General Tire Grabber MT made quite an impression. Sargeant says he will now pass on this experience to Land Rover owning customers.
Paul Hembery has given the strongest indication yet of a longer term future in Formula One for tyre supplier Pirelli. While there had been speculation that the manufacturer had secured the supply deal for 2014 only, the company’s Motorsport director told reporters at the Korean grand prix that the exclusive tyre supplier is “working on five years”, meaning Pirelli would be in the series until at least the end of the 2018 season.
Avon Tyres British GT to conclude at Donington Park
Donington Park hosts the finale of eth Avon Tyres British GT Championship on 5-6 October, and both the GT3 and GT4 titles are still to be decided. Only 21 points separate the top seven drivers in the GT3 standings. Tyre supplier and title sponsor Avon Tyres declared itself “very proud to have been involved and to continue to be involved with such a strong race championship.”
ŠKODA Motorsport driver Jan Kopecký says that becoming the 2013 FIA European Rally Champion is a dream come true, after he clinched the title with victory on Rally Croatia.
Kopecký and co-driver Pavel Dresler made a risk-free start in Croatia, before showing their class on the slippery asphalt roads along the Adriatic coast and moving into the lead in their factory ŠKODA Fabia S2000.
Pryce wins Yorkshire Rally, Pirelli Star Driver finishes 5th
Osian Pryce won the Trackrod Yorkshire Rally, round five of the British Rally Championship, following a three-way battle that took the event to the final stage. Pirelli, on whose tyres the BRC is competed, said that the rally matched last year’s corresponding event, which staged one of the championship’s closest finishes, for excitement. The manufacturer’s supported Pirelli Star Driver Mark Donelly helped make the event for Pirelli, driving a mature rally to bring his Pirelli-backed Citroen DS3 R3T home in fifth. Meanwhile championship leader Jukka Korhonen – a former Pirelli Star Driver himself – looks likely to clinch the title in the Dorset and Hampshire forests, where the six-round series concludes with Rallye Sunseeker International (18-19 October).
At the end of the Silverstone meeting there are five drivers in contention for the 2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. While Andrew Jordan is in command after extending his advantage, two wins for Jason Plato and another for reigning champion Gordon Shedden kept their respective title hopes alive. Two other former champions in Matt Neal and Colin Turkington are also in contention in the final three races of the season at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.
Lawyers still working on F1 supply renewal contract, says Hembery
Pirelli’s already done much to indicate it will remain the sole Formula One tyre supplier in 2014 and beyond, but so far no official agreement to this effect has been formalised. Yet the tyre maker’s motorsport director Paul Hembery says that much of the work towards a new agreement is complete.
Cooper Tire has replaced Firestone as the official tyre supplier to the US-based Indy Lights Series from 2014, making Cooper the official tyre of the entire Mazda Road to Indy ladder. The agreement will initially run for five years, with an option to extend beyond the end of the 2018 season.
Pirelli’s tyre supply contract for the GP2 and GP3 series has been renewed. The Italian firm has supplied the GP3 series since its inception in 2010 and took on GP2 supply the following year. Comments made by the organiser upon announcing this multi-year renewal for the two Formula One feeder categories – that his philosophy has always been to use the same tyre supplier as F1 – also indicates an official deal for the top-level championship may be imminent.
5 of top 7 use Maxxis Trepador tyre at King of the Valleys
Five of the top seven ranked competitors at the second staging of the King of the Valleys endurance event used Maxxis’ M8060 Trepador competition tyre. Maxxis UK managing director Derek McMartin says the partnership Maxxis has established with the King of the Valleys is “hugely beneficial”.
Pirelli nominates F1 tyre compounds for Korea, Japan and India
Pirelli has announced its tyre compound nominations for the forthcoming grands prix in Korea, Japan and India. The P Zero White medium tyre is present for all three events – it seems likely that Monaco will remain the only grand prix of 2013 at which it was not amongst Pirelli’s allocation. Each of the other three compounds will feature once, with the two hardest compounds deployed for the seventh time this season at Japan’s Suzuka.
Newby becomes youngest Manx International Rally winner on Pirelli
Arron Newby has become the youngest ever Intenational Rally Isle of Man winner after winning in the event’s 50th anniversary year. Newby is supported by Pirelli, and the 18 year old took his TEG Subaru Impreza with Manx co-driver Rob Fagg to victory on the Italian tyre manufacturer’s RX and RE asphalt tyres. Pirelli UK Motorsport operations manager Matthew Corby said: “The Manx is one of the most prestigious events in British rallying with the likes of Colin McRae and Roger Clark having won this rally in the past.”
Pirelli F1 tyres selected to give racers scope for Singapore strategies
Pirelli is taking its softest specification P Zero Formula One tyre to Singapore’s street circuit, but in a slight change of tack from 2012 the Italian tyre supplier has opted to take the P Zero White medium compound tyre as the second option. Motorsport director Paul Hembery said the decision was based on the evolving conditions particular to this, the only race to be run at night under street lamps on F1’s calendar, as well as the circuit’s stop-start nature and the fact that it is one of the year’s longest races, leading to heavier fuel loads.
Marty McCormack and Phil Clarke clinched the inaugural West Wales Rally Spares RAC Rally Championship with one round still to run as they slid their Kumho-shod MKII Escort to a fourth consecutive victory on 8 September’s Red Kite Historic Stages event. Commenting on the result, Kumho’s European motorsport manager Steve Thompson said: “Marty and Phil have performed faultlessly throughout this excellent new championship and thoroughly deserve their win. We are naturally delighted with the way our tyres have aided their cause.”
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