Dunlop launches BTCC overtakers league with #ForeverForward social media hashtag
Dunlop will leverage the widespread popularity of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship to push interaction with its social media channels further in 2015. The tyre supplier and official sponsor has launched a new overtaking league table that will focus on battles throughout the field, fightbacks from adversity and the determination of the best drivers in bumper-to-bumper combat.
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Pirelli sponsors Carlisle rally for 24th consecutive year
Pirelli will once again sponsor the Carlisle Rally which takes place on Saturday, 25 April. This year, the Pirelli Carlisle Rally forms Round Three of the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship and of the West Wales Rally Spares RAC Rally Championship. Pirelli has backed the rally for some 24 years now, which takes place in the home of one of its two factories in Great Britain, along with Burton on Trent.
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Evergreen-backed Zelos returns to Ginetta Junior grid
Evergreen has renewed its relationship with young racing driver Dan Zelos after a successful 2014. The brand will support the promising Norfolk teenager during another season of the ITV4-televised Ginetta Junior Championship – one of the leading support series’ to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) – as it begins at Brands Hatch on Easter weekend (4-5 April).
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Will sale to ChemChina alter Pirelli’s motorsport focus?
After the second grand prix of the second year of Pirelli’s second three-year stint as exclusive Formula One tyre supplier, Motorsport director Paul Hembery addressed questions about its F1 programme in the ChemChina-owned era. “For us, it’s business as normal,” Hembery told motorsport magazine, Autosport. Indeed, the centrality of top-level motorsport to the manufacturer’s brand – “Motorsport for Pirelli remains key,” in Hembery’s words – is an obvious attraction to a Chinese company buying into the premium manufacturer’s market positioning.
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‘Two-stop’ Vettel gets reacquainted with F1 victory
Prior to the start of yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix, Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery expected teams to make three tyre change stops during the race. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel opted to stop only twice, and this may well have been the decisive factor in his 8.57 second victory over Lewis Hamilton. The Malaysian GP victory was the first win for Vettel and Ferrari since 2013, and this fourth victory in Malaysia – the 40th of his career – means that Vettel is now the most successful driver in the history of the Malaysian Grand Prix.
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Extended UK, USA live coverage to start new BTCC season
The 2015 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship will dominate ITV4’s Easter Sunday schedule (5 April). Eight hours of live, free-to-air and exclusive UK television coverage will be broadcast from the opening event of the season at Brands Hatch, demonstrating the reasons for Dunlop’s continued investment in its title sponsorship and tyre supply agreement. Global interest in the series is also growing, exemplified by the series’ new North American broadcast partner, CBS Sports Network, which plans to award the BTCC with a prime time slot on Wednesday evenings.
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Is Yokohama’s Top Gear Live sponsorship in doubt after Clarkson dismissal?
Now that Jeremy Clarkson must be considered an ex-Top Gear presenter, the future of the planned Top Gear Live arena tour also been called into question. Four shows due to take place in Norway were postponed with replacement dates yet to be announced while the BBC’s investigation into Clarkson’s behaviour was completed. Having reported its findings that Clarkson made “an unprovoked physical and verbal attack” on his producer on 25 March, it appears the shows, and the rest of the ambitious Top Gear Live arena tour, remain in jeopardy – a potential marketing headache for the UK tour’s title sponsor Gocompare, and tyre supplier, Yokohama.
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Michelin-shod VW Touareg sets speed record on ice
On 20–21 March, 14-time motor sports record-holder Andrey Leontyev and ice captain Alexander Burmeyster set an absolute record by achieving the greatest average speed on ice over a 1000km course on Lake Baikal. The vehicle used was a Volkswagen Touareg production vehicle with standard tyres and service fluids.
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Avon enters tenth British GT Championship with new slick
The Avon Tyres British GT Championship will begin at Oulton Park over the Easter bank holiday, signalling the tenth year of Avon Tyres as the series’ title sponsor. the tyre supplier has introduced a revised slick tyre for the 2015 season, to be supplied to all GT3 and GT4 teams on the grid. Avon says the tyre has increased durability and performance across a greater range of ambient and track temperatures.
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Likely 1st outing for Pirelli F1 Cinturato wet tyres in Malaysia
While the abrasive Sepang surface has led to Pirelli supplying its two hardest compounds – the P Zero White medium and Orange hard slicks – to Formula One’s second grand prix of the season, the likelihood of intense rain means the 2015 Cinturato wet tyres could see competitive action in Malaysia. If the slick tyres do see use, Pirelli once again anticipates lap times around two seconds quicker than in 2015, which will “exponentially increase the workload on the tyres,” explains Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director.
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New F1 rear tyre construction could see 2-second faster laps all season – Pirelli
Following its analysis of the data from the opening Australian Grand Prix, Pirelli has restated its pre-season prediction that lap times in Formula One could be two seconds faster throughout the 2015 season.
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Debut for Pirelli P7 Classic W7 on Costa Brava historic rally
Pirelli’s new P7 Classic W7 was used by the top three finishers in the second round of this year’s FIA European Historic Rally Championship, the 63rd Rally Costa Brava. The top two finishers drove Lancia Delta Integrales, similar to the cars that made their mark on the World Rally Championship with Pirelli in the late 1980s. Under the latest FIA historic regulations, cars that competed up to 1990 are now eligible for classic events – with many of them now at the forefront of the action.
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New Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 optional original equipment tyre on Audi R8
Michelin has specially developed a new variant of its Pilot Sport Cup 2 ultra-high performance tyre for the original equipment fitment on the new Audi R8. The tyre is an optional fitment to be specified by customers, which can be identified by the RO1 marking on its sidewall. Michelin describes meeting the requirements of Audi as a technological challenge; engineers sought to combine high levels of dry grip to improve lap times on the track, without any compromise in safety on wet roads. The tyre sizes are 245/30ZR20 (front) and 305/30ZR20 (rear).
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Prost triumphs in first US Formula E race
The first Formula E race to be held in the USA saw Nico Prost triumph at the end of a duel that had the 20,000-strong crowd spellbound right up to the very end. The streets of Miami were packed, with tickets everywhere sold out, while millions of fans around the world watched on TV, computer or smartphone.
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