Verstappen bests Hamilton in US strategic tyre duel
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen opened up a 12-point gap at the top of the Formula 1 Drivers Championship after an intensely tactical two-stop race against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas. Verstappen switched from the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tyre to the P Zero White hard tyre on lap 11, with a successful undercut to gain the lead from his rival, who stopped three laps later. Mario Isola – head of F1 and car racing at Pirelli said that the two drivers had used “exactly the same” pre-race tyre allocation in different ways to produce a “thrilling finale between two drivers absolutely on top of their game.”
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Pirelli finishes 18-inch F1 tyre development programme
Monday’s tyre test at France’s Paul Ricard circuit heralded the conclusion of Pirelli’s initial development programme for 18-inch Formula 1 tyres. Alpine’s Daniil Kvyat was in the seat for the wet test, finishing a programme disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The flagship global motorsport series will switch to the new low-profile tyres in 2022, shifting away from the 13-inch tyres currently used. Pirelli calls this move a technical revolution and has devoted an intense period of research and development to the change, with indoor and outdoor testing. The manufacturer will now tweak the tyre based on 2022-specification car testing.
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Giti Tire’s Gibson in contention for BTRC crown after podium finishes
Two British Truck Racing Championship podium finishes and a fastest lap at Pembrey mean Giti Tire’s Martin Gibson will enter the final race weekend at Brands Hatch just five points behind the leader. His partner at Giti Tire Motorsport, Stuart Oliver overcame no less than three in-race collisions and still managed to secure both a first and second place finish across the five races.
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Cooper partners Goodwood Members’ Meeting for Rally Sprint
Cooper Tire Europe has presented a unique Rally Sprint event at the 78th Goodwood Members’ Meeting in a new partnership. Delayed since March 2020, the eagerly awaited Members’ Meeting took place on 16-17 October. The Goodwood Rally Sprint Presented by Cooper Tires showcased Cooper’s rallying heritage with a spectacular selection of World Rally Championship (WRC) machinery. It is currently a supplier to the North American Rally Championship and the Mobil Rally Chile, as well as being the sole tyre supplier to the FIA World Rallycross Championship and the sister FIA European Rallycross Championship.
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Cobley claims British Cross Country class title on Davanti Terratoura A/T
Terratoura A/T ambassador Edd Cobley has won the British Cross Country Championship’s Modified Production class. The off-road rally legend added the title to his collection with a brave performance at Walters Arena in Neath, South Wales. Cobley ran his self-built custom Land Rover Defender 110 - nicknamed Skippy 2.0 - on the Terratoura A/T throughout the championship, competing against competitors on Kevlar-reinforced specialist rally tyres.
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Hankook supplying reborn DTR race series
Hankook will serve as exclusive tyre partner to the relaunched Deutsche Tourenwagen Challenge (DTC), a German motorsport series aimed at young and amateur drivers and contested by affordable cars with a maximum engine capacity of 1.65 litres such as the Ford Fiesta ST, Hyundai i20 N, Peugeot 208, Renault Clio Cup or Toyota Yaris. All vehicles will compete on Hankook Ventus Race tyres when the series gets underway next year.
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Giti Tire’s Martin Gibson rises to 2nd in BTRC
Giti Tire manager - EU Testing Centre and Motorsport UK, Martin Gibson will enter the penultimate round of the 2021 British Truck Racing Championship (BTRC) second in the title race, trailing the leader by only one point. Gibson secured the highest points tally at Snetterton, taking him to 254, after securing two victories, two third places, a sixth-place finish and two fastest laps across five races on the 2.9-mile circuit. His partner at Giti Tire Motorsport, Stuart Oliver secured second in race five to ensure a one-two finish. He also came third, fourth place twice and fifth.
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Vipal sponsors Italian rally driver, deepens Ral Gomme partnership
Vipal Rubber has become official sponsor of Fabio Farina, an Italian competitor in the Italian Rally Championship 2021 (CIR), International Rally Cup (IRCup), Peugeot Trophy and the Under 25 race. The retread and tyre repairs supplier says that Farina is “one of the most outstanding drivers of the new Italian generation in the category.” He is the son of Luca Farina, owner of Ral Gomme SRL, a major tyre retreader in Pietramurata, Trento, Italy, and partner of Vipal.
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Le Mans Virtual Series begins with tyre partner Goodyear
Goodyear has been appointed the official tyre partner to the Le Mans Virtual Series, which got underway Saturday, 25 September, to bring the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and 24 Hours of Le Mans to the sim racing world in partnership with esports industry leaders Motorsport Games.
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Giti Tire supports Giti Gazelles on Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc
The Giti Gazelles and Giti Tire have again teamed up to take on the toughest and most conscientious women-only cross-country motorsports event on the planet – the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc. English born Helen Tate Wright and New Zealander Sue Alemann, their Defender 110 named Priscilla and a set of Giti AT70 4x4 all-terrain tyres will cover 2,500 kilometres of deserted Moroccan landscape from September 23-30 in the names of racing and charity.
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Falken wins Best Event Film at International Motor Film Awards
Falken has been awarded the Best Event Film at the 2021 International Motor Film Awards. The film ‘Whatever Comes Our Way’ was shot in September 2020, during what was probably the most unusual race in the almost 50-year history of the Nürburgring 24-hour race, with hardly any spectators lining the Nordschleife circuit. Another Falken production, ‘Pass the Wheel’, starring Peter Dumbreck in a classic Porsche 911 was also nominated for Best Journalistic Film.
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Tread’s Collier wins Class C Cockshoot Cup
Tyre test firm Tread’s founder, Ray Collier secured the Class C MGCC Cockshoot cup championship at the weekend of 11-12 September with a win at Snetterton and a second place. As a result, the overall Cockshoot Cup also went down to the wire at Snetterton, with Brian Butler in Class F managing to successfully retain the overall title by 3 Points from Ray Collier in Class C.
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Michelin extends MotoGP tyre-supply partnership until 2026
Michelin and Dorna Sports have confirmed a new three-year contract extension with Michelin. The extended tyre supply deal will see the French firm continue as the sole official tyre supplier to MotoGP until at least 2026 and therefore means the partners will reach the milestone of a decade racing together.
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Giti Tire’s Martin Gibson dominates at Donington in BTRC
Giti Tire’s Martin Gibson dominated the latest event of the 2021 British Truck Racing Championship (BTRC) at Donington. Giti Tire’s EU Testing Centre and Motorsport UK manager secured two victories, two second places and three fastest laps over five races. The four podium finishes represent his best single weekend return in three years of truck racing for Giti Tire Motorsport. He won races starting from both the front and rear of the grid in the reverse positions format.
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Freddie Hunt takes wheel of GT Radial #97 in Fun Cup
Freddie Hunt, professional racing driver and son of Formula One legend James Hunt, is the latest big name to compete in the GT Radial car number 97 in the 2021 Fun Cup Endurance Championship. He follows Isle of Man TT legend John McGuiness and Steve Peat, multiple World and British Downhill Mountain Bike Champion in taking the seat in this year’s series. Racing at Croft with Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire, the team finished a respectable 10th place having started 17th on the grid for the four-hour endurance race.
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