GT Radial-sponsored Boulbes defends Elite French Drift Championship
Benjamin Boulbes has started the defence of the French Elite Drift FFSA Championship in a brand new car on GT Radial Champiro SX2 tyres.
Benjamin Boulbes has started the defence of the French Elite Drift FFSA Championship in a brand new car on GT Radial Champiro SX2 tyres.
GT Radial was a main sponsor at the recent Land Rover Kitesurf World Cup 2021 event in Sylt, Germany. The brand was previously involved with the event in 2019. Taking place between 17 and 22 August on the North Sea island windsurfing resort, the competition received extensive coverage in national TV, radio and print media and achieved global social media reach.
80 guests became the first European customers to test drive the new GT Radial SportActive 2 and FE2 at GT Radial’s first Mira Drive and Ride event for almost two years. Potential new dealers, supported by select GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) owners, got back on track under Covid secure conditions over two days, during which GT Radial’s exclusive UK distributor over the last decade, Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS), presented the brand’s product portfolio. All attendees were invited to experience high speed circuits in the new BMW 5 Series of Giti Tire’s country manager – UK, Brian McDermott who put his own car on the redline.
Giti Tire’s all-season tyre range has been boosted by 13 new sizes of the GT Radial 4Seasons tyre. Launched in May 2018 at Tire Cologne, the passenger car portfolio has increased by eight sizes to stand at 28, and now covers 26 of the 30 of the most in-demand sizes in Europe. The manufacturer has added five new SUV-marked tyres, bringing the SUV derivative up to a total of eight size options. The GT Radial 4Seasons range now includes 13 of the top 20 SUV size combinations in Europe, which equates to 70 per cent of market demand.
Giti Tire kicked off its 2021 Fun Cup Endurance Championship season with two racing icons in GT Radial car number 97. John McGuiness, part of the Honda TT Legends race team and best known for his 23 Isle of Man victories and 47 podiums, and Steve Peat, renowned multiple World and British Downhill Mountain Bike Champion swapped two wheels for four at the four-hour endurance race at Donington. The company has also added a new Giti branded vehicle to the grid, a joint entry with GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) partner MJ Tec from Stratford-upon-Avon.
GT Radial is the Official Tyre Partner of the Champions Hockey League (CHL). The Giti Tire brand will use Europe’s biggest ice hockey competition to boost awareness of its winter portfolio across the continent. The agreement means GT Radial will get advertising at all games, its logo on official media backdrops and on the website, tickets, usage of the CHL emblem, tailored digital activations, on-site promotions and access to fan engagement activities. Giti said its advertising will promote the “direct link between the speed and precision of professional ice hockey and the GT Radial WinterPro2 Sport, its winter tyre dedicated to the UHP market.”
Giti Tire is introducing the successor to its most popular European market tyre. The GT Radial FE2, which replaces the Champiro FE1, is aimed primarily at compact and family passenger cars and small and crossover SUVs. The tyre will be available initially in 17 sizes from 15-18″. These sizes will have speed indices T, H, V, W and Y, section widths from 185-235 and series sizes from 50-65. Tyres dedicated to SUV vehicles carry the initials on the sidewall to highlight their core market.
Giti Tire has launched its new mass-market European UHP tyre, the GT Radial SportActive 2. The second generation of the SportActive comes with a range of performance enhancements, particularly in wet conditions. The GT Radial SportActive 2 will initially be available in 14 sizes for rims from 16-20”, section widths from 205-275, series sizes from 35-55, and with speed indices of W or Y.
GT Radial sponsored racing partner, Benjamin Boulbes has won his fourth consecutive French Elite Drift FFSA Championship. The Covid-19 shortened season comprised five rounds, in which Boulbes amassed 1,045 points, three podium finishes, and four pole positions. His 2020 triumph marks an unprecedented seventh championship for the driver, having won in 2010, 2013, 2014, and the last four years. Boulbes competes in a tuned BMW M3 E93M, which produces around 1,200CV/BHP through its Chevrolet LSX376 engine, running on the GT Radial Champiro SX2 tyre.
Official tyre partner of the VW Fun Cup 2020 season, Giti Tire is racing in a fully liveried GT Radial car. At each race weekend Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire, leads a line-up of race enthusiasts from the GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) network. This activation of the event provides a great opportunity to get together with key distribution partners and customers of the brand’s exclusive distribution partner Micheldever Tyre Services, as well as increasing coverage of the brand. This approach to the series is demonstrated in a new Facebook video distributed on the championship’s Facebook channel, featuring Hadley and customers Carl Churchill and Alan Baldwin.
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.
With the VW Fun Cup 2020 season ready to commence its reduced calendar of five rounds, Giti Tire has confirmed that it is maintaining its position as Official Tyre Partner. The tyre manufacturer will also participate, racing its fully livered GT Radial car. Ellis Hadley, senior test engineer at Giti Tire, will line-up on the grid alongside seasoned racing enthusiasts from the GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) network. The VW Fun Cup will start with a One Hour Sprint Race and a Four Hour Endurance Race on 8 August at Snetterton, before hitting Thruxton, Silverstone and the season finale at Oulton Park on 17 October. All cars in the competition run on GitiCompete GTR2 tyres.
Reifen Gundlach has resumed its exclusive distribution of GT Radial brand tyres in Germany. The new deal comes three years after Giti Tire ended their previously long-standing exclusive partnership with the wholesaler, started in 1994. Giti stated in 2017 that it wanted to to “achieve a higher market penetration with a planned realignment of the brand.” Part of the strategy was to make the GT Radial brand available through four different wholesalers. This coincided with the European entry of its eponymous Giti brand, with a special focus on the German market. At its peak, it had previously sold around a million GT Radial tyres per year, according to Gundlach statements. Now in 2020, the manufacturer has opted to resume its exclusive arrangement for GT Radial with Gundlach.
Giti Tire has made its latest ultra-high performance tyre, the GT Radial WinterPro2 Sport, available to order. The tyre is the brand’s latest winter tyre for the UHP market, launching in nine 17-19” sizes. The manufacturer states that the tyre is designed for both high powered passenger cars and premium SUVs.
Giti Tire has extended its support of MotoFest Coventry with an evening circuit programme for the first time. The main GT Radial sprint circuit will host a full track programme on the Saturday night, including a dynamic display of wheel to wheel motorsport from teams involved in the VW Fun Cup UK series.
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