Continental welcomes Lewis Hamilton to Extreme E
Six-Time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton is creating his very own race team, which will make its competitive debut in the Extreme E electric off-road racing series early next year. Hamilton has named the team X44 – a nod to his F1 car number – and although he won’t drive in the new championship or be involved with X44 on a day-to-day basis, the British driver will draw upon his experience to help guide the creation of a dedicated and competitive team. Extreme E tyre supplier Continental welcomes this backing from motorsport royalty.
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ETRC Promotor’s Cup becomes Goodyear Cup
The former Promoter’s Cup category of the FIA European Truck Racing Championship will be renamed the Goodyear cup this season. The tyre maker has signed up as title partner for the category for ‘CHROME’ rated drivers, which is dedicated to upcoming talent. This ‘race within a race’ was introduced in 2017.
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Pirelli goes to Brands Hatch with British GT
Pirelli travels to Brands Hatch this weekend for the third round of the 2020 British GT Championship. The Kent circuit is “a track where the drivers can really exploit the full performance of their cars and our latest tyres,” according to the series’ exclusive tyre supplier. GT3 competitors will use Pirelli’s new P Zero DHE tyre, an evolution of the previous DHD2, with modifications designed to make it even more versatile for the wide variety of GT3 cars and drivers who use it. There’s another new tyre for GT4 as well, with the P Zero DHB replacing the DH. The Cinturato WH tyres remain in place for wet weather.
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Liqui Moly becomes title sponsor of the MotoGP race in Teruel, Spain
The German motor oil and additive producer Liqui Moly will remain the exclusive lubricant supplier for the Moto2 and Moto3 motorcycle racing series until 2023. What is more, the company also secured the naming rights for the Aragon Grand Prix at short notice. It will be held from 23 to 25 October under the name Gran Premio Liqui Moly de Teruel.
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Goodyear supplied Mini Challenge heads to Knockhill
The Mini Challenge returns this weekend for its second set of races since its Covid-delayed start at Donington Park (1-2 August). The JCW field is linked to the British Touring Car Championship, both as a support series for the first time in 2020 and by virtue of its switch from Dunlop rubber to European sister brand Goodyear, which supplies the BTCC. The move to Goodyear, in the final year of its 2017 penned Dunlop supply deal, signifies the continued realignment of the Goodyear brand within motorsport. Having already returned to the international stage with top-flight series like the FIA World Endurance Championship, Goodyear wants to expand its presence in national series too. The Mini Challenge JCWs run on a variation of Goodyear’s new Eagle F1 SuperSport slick tyre range. The company stresses the strength of this move for the development of competitors looking to make the step up to the headline BTCC series.
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Apex Motorsport gains global sales rights for Sailun motorsport tyres
Sailun Tire has entered into a partnership agreement with China’s Apex Motorsport. The deal, signed on 21 August by Apex Motorsport’s Jin Yi and Chen Zheng, deputy director of Sailun Motorsport, gives Apex global sales rights for Sailun Sports Tires including the full range of Sailun Gene R tyres. Sailun believes this agreement marks its “successful shift from the prosumer market to the consumer market following three years of racing events that put Sailun Tire products to various stringent tests.”
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F1 tyre management challenges in near 50-degree Spanish GP
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton won in Spain from pole with a two-stop soft-medium-medium tyre strategy in some of the hottest track conditions experienced by Formula 1’s drivers. Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing, Mario Isola commented that “managing the tyres in these demanding conditions with nearly 50 degrees of track temperatures was a big challenge, especially on the soft tyre.” There were seven different strategies seen in the top eight.
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Cooper Tires supported British Rallycross Championship 2020 launched
The organisers of the British Rallycross Championship organisers have launched the 2020 season at Lydden Hill Race Circuit. From the new campaign onwards, the series will be formally known as the Motorsport UK British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy Presented by Cooper Tires.
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Nascar Euro’s Jeffs joins GT Radial for VW Fun Cup at Thruxton
Nascar Whelan Euro Series driver Scott Jeffs will join the GT Radial team for their next VW Fun Cup race in Thruxton on 22 August. Jeffs is a former Mini Challenge UK Cooper S Class champion, and became Alex Sedgwick’s Elite 2 partner in the no.90 AST Suspension Chevrolet Camaro for Braxx Racing. He will race at Thruxton with Brian McDermott, country manager – UK and Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire.
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Ricardo congratulates DS Performance on retaining Formula E drivers’ and constructors’ titles
Formula E, the all-electric street racing championship, provides an exciting and competitive platform for global car manufacturers and mobility providers to test and develop road-relevant technologies. The series aims to act as a catalyst to help refine the design of electric vehicles and improve the driving experience for everyday road car users all over the world. Commencing with double-header races in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia in late November 2019, Season 6 of Formula E concludes following a pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with a dramatic finale in Berlin held in a series of races over 6 days. DS Techeetah was successful in its retention of both the constructors’ and drivers’ titles on 9th August with two races still to take place on 12th and 13th August.
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Bridgestone back with motocross for winner-takes-all weekend
The Bridgestone British Masters Battlecross Championship (Pro & Amateur MX1 MX2, plus all youth classes), Bridgestone Cup and Bob Lewis Memorial Trophy will all be on the line in a one-off, winner-takes-all event at Cusses Gorse near Salisbury in September. Covid-19 lockdown restrictions have seen the competitive racing season all but cancelled, but the one-off weekend in Wiltshire has been agreed to being the most effective way of crowning this year’s champions, meaning that one or two shocks might just be on the cards.
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Goodyear anticipates WEC restart, with partner teams in contention
Goodyear is looking forward to recommencing the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. The tyre manufacturer’s partner teams, Jota Sport and Jackie Chan DC Racing are currently second and third in the LMP2 standings. The former has finished on the podium in the last four rounds, while Jota took a memorable win at Shanghai in November. They will be joined by an additional Goodyear-shod car from Algarve Pro Racing. The Portuguese team usually competes in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) but will step up to the world stage this weekend.
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MXGP season restarts in Latvia with Dunlop rider success
154 days since the last race at Valkenswaard, Netherlands, Glenn Coldenhoff restarted the FIM Motocross World Championship season off in winning form, taking victory with Dunlop tyres at Kegums, Latvia. The Dutch rider gave the new Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team its maiden win on Sunday afternoon after a tense late-race battle in the second of two rounds in the MXGP of Latvia. Earlier in the day, Coldenhoff narrowly missed out on the Race 1 win by 1.9 seconds. Eddy Seel, MXGP event leader, Dunlop: “It was great to see MXGP return to action after a five-month break, and even better that Coldenhoff and GasGas took a memorable victory with Dunlop Geomax tyres. With four more races on the same track over the next week, our partner teams can fight for even more wins soon.”
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Tyre management ‘integral’ in Verstappen’s Silverstone triumph
Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli said that tyre strategy had been “integral” to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Starting from fourth on the grid, Verstappen was the only one of the top 10 to start on the hard tyre. He used their comparative durability to run a longer first stint, which allowed him to move into the lead and then defend his advantage. The P Zero White hard (C2) tyre was softer than the hardest designated tyre at the previous weekend’s British Grand Prix, won by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. While the Mercedes team was tougher on the tyres than most, with blistering a known issue, Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were able to claim the second and third steps on the podium, with Hamilton using the P Zero White to set the fastest lap in the race to claim an extra championship point.
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Lucas Batteries back on the motorsport scene
As part of its ongoing awareness campaign, Ecobat Battery Technologies (Ecobat), the pan-European business behind Lucas Batteries, has catapulted the globally recognised brand back into the limelight as it takes its place on the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) grid for the 2020 season.
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