Le Mans Archives - Page 5 of 7 - Tyrepress

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Bridgestone Slicks Deliver the Goods Despite Le Mans Heat

Warm weather greeted MotoGP competitors on race day at the Grand Prix De France on May 23 – so much so that the track temperature rose to 48 degrees Celsius, safely the hottest track temperature recorded at the circuit during a MotoGP session. These conditions affected lap times slightly, yet Bridgestone reports that both specifications of its slicks proved their durability and consistent performance. The frontrunners used Bridgestone’s harder option front and asymmetric rear slicks, and it was Jorge Lorenzo of the Fiat Yamaha Team who took victory, ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.

24th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Notches Up 12th Consecutive Sebring Win

On March 19 Michelin became the first tyre manufacturer ever inducted into the Sebring International Raceway (Florida, USA) Hall of Fame, an accomplishment achieved through winning overall victories in the last 11 consecutive Twelve Hours of Sebring races. The following day a twelfth victory was added to Michelin’s tally. Along with its technical partner teams from Peugeot, Aston Martin, Porsche, Highcroft HPD, and Ferrari, the tyre maker secured the top six positions overall in the opening even of the 2010 American Le Mans Series. First and second places were secured by the Peugeot Sport team’s 12 cylinder, turbo diesel 908 HDI FAP cars, followed by the Lola Aston Martin in third place.

22nd March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop and Aston Martin Aiming for Le Mans Glory

Dunlop, Aston Martin Racing’s official global GT2 Development Partner, is to work closely with the British manufacturer over a three-year period in order to develop the Vantage GT2, which the Dunlop supported team JMW Motorsport will race in the 2010 Le Mans Series and Le Mans 24 Hour. According to Dunlop, an intensive testing programme gets underway this month ahead of the opening Le Mans Series race, the 8 Hours of Le Castellet, on April 9-11. Participation in a number of selected high profile events may be added to the team’s calendar at a later date.

15th January 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Jag Team Picks Yokohama for ALMS

(Tire Review) Yokohama will be back at the American Le Mans Series next season on RocketSports Racing 's Jaguar XKR GT2 entry. According to Mark Chung, Yokohama director of corporate strategy and planning, the new entry debuted at the Petit Le Mans race this past weekend running on Yokohama Advan A005 tyres. The car will also run at Laguna Seca on 10 October, using the races to introduce the car and utilize the track time for testing and development.

29th September 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Audi, Corvette Claim Victories in Michelin Green X Challenge

Proving their race cars to be both faster and greener than the competition, Audi and Corvette scored the prototype and GT race wins respectively while winning the first Michelin Green X Challenge awards at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening event of the 2009 American Le Mans Series season. Making its first race appearance, the low sulphur diesel powered Audi R15 TDI prevailed in an epic 12-hour battle against archrivals from Peugeot to claim the race victory while also using less energy. The pairs of cars from the two teams exchanged the lead 23 times in the 12-hour race that produced new records for race distance and average speed.

23rd March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

RS Spyder Style Wheels Available for 911 Turbo

A new alloy wheel design, derived from the rims worn by the Porsche RS Spyder racing car, is now available exclusively for the 911 Turbo model.

This is a style of wheel that has been seen in all the right places recently – the Porsche RS Spyder sports prototype recently won all titles in the ALMS American Le Mans Series for the third time in a row. A further outstanding achievement of the Porsche RS Spyder is that it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in its class this year at its very first attempt and also brought home the winner’s title in the European Le Mans Series.

31st October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Toyo Presenting Sponsor of Speed Races

Toyo has been named the presenting sponsor of this weekend’s SCCA Speed GT and Touring Car races at Mosport International Raceway, and presenting sponsor of the Speed Touring Car season finale at Road Atlanta.

Part of the Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport weekend with the American Le Mans Series, this weekend’s Speed GT race will be referred to as the Mosport Speed GT Presented by Toyo Tires, and the touring car event will be called the Mosport Speed Touring Car Presented by Toyo Tires.

“Toyo is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the exciting Speed GT and Touring Car events at Mosport, and for the final Touring Car race of the season at Road Atlanta,” said Steve Hutchinson, Toyo’s vice president of marketing. “Toyo has enjoyed a long association with Speed World Challenge, showcasing both the technology and performance capabilities of our Proxes line of high performance tires.” (Tire Review/Akron)

20th August 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Snap-On Signs 3-Year Aston Martin Sponsorship Deal

Snap-on Tools has announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Aston Martin Racing, which recently won the GT1 class at the recent Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. The 009 Aston Martin Racing DBR9, driven by David Brabham, Antonio Garcia and Darren Turner – resplendent in its iconic Gulf livery (pictured) – took the Le Mans specialist class victory for sports cars which are based closely on their road-going equivalents. This was the second consecutive victory for Aston Martin Racing in the GT1 Class.

“We were delighted to have been able to announce just before Le Mans our three year partnership with Aston Martin Racing,” says Terry Barcham, Managing Director of Snap-on Tools. “Aston Martin Racing’s exhilarating success at this year’s Le Mans gave us particular pleasure. There is no doubt that we benefited considerably from the extensive television and press exposure and we look forward to a successful and mutually beneficial partnership.”

11th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Extreme Maserati to Roar into Goodwood

This weekend Dunlop is presenting what the tyremaker calls “the most extreme Maserati of all time” at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The 755bhp, 204mph Maserati MC12 Corse was originally designed for the race track, but former German Touring Car (DTM) driver Hubert Haupt ordered his for the road – fitted with the latest Dunlop Sport Maxx GT tyres.

The MC12 Corse is a sister of the MC12 Competizione which won both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in the 2006 FIA GT Championship. The Corse version accelerates from 0 to 62mph in 3.4 seconds and at 160mph its racing aerodynamic package delivers a massive downforce of 1,400kg.

10th July 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin ‘Ready for Le Mans’

Michelin scored another win in the Le Mans Series at the weekend, with taking the Peugeot-Total-Michelin team the chequered flag in Monza. The cars, driven by, Stéphane Sarrazin and Pedro Lamy, ended up winning after what company representatives described as “a real ding-dong battle with the No. 2 Audi [of] Mike Rockenfeller at the wheel.” The No. 17 Pescarolo (Tinseau / Primate) finished third.

For Michelin, the Monza race proved to be the perfect testing ground to validate tyres in preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours. Matthieu Bonardel, Director of Four-wheel Competition commented: “Firstly, we want to wish a speedy recovery to Stéphane Ortelli from the Oreca team, who suffered an incredible “off” today and we hope to see him on the circuits again soon. With regards tyres, this race was by no means easy. The Monza circuit is highly specific and the evolution of the track today was quite strong. While there was a definite phenomenon of understeer in all categories during practice, it was not the case in the race…The only disappointment for us was because we failed to find a solution to double-stint and gain time. We tried both with medium and hard compounds, but we soon found that the mediums lost on performance over time, while the hards didn’t have the performance to start with.

28th April 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Wheel Washer Takes To The Track

The Drester Wheel Washer – distributed by Beissbarth UK – has always been a firm favourite with customers who want that show-room sparkle. But now the Drester has moved from the showroom to the race circuit.

It turns out that the Drester Wheel Washer is the preferred choice for the highly successful RML team, who are targeting more glory in 2008 as they aim to add to their tally of 15 titles over the last 10 years. The team is gearing up for its challenge for WTCC glory following its best-ever season last year. RML will also compete at Le Mans itself and in the Le Mans Series – the scene of their most recent success in 2007.

6th February 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook Signs Deal with ALMS Team

(Akron/Tire Review) Hankook Tire Co. has signed a sponsorship and supply agreement with Corsa Motorsports, which will compete in the 2008 American Le Mans Series (ALMS) in the GT2 Class. “For Hankook, this is about showcasing our technology on the premier stage of road racing,” said Bill Bainbridge, director of brand communication for Hankook Tire America Corp. “We are as devoted to winning on race day as Corsa Motorsports.”

“Our agreement with Hankook puts us back in the game with a partner who is fully committed to putting the most competitive car out there,” said Steve Pruitt, who heads Corsa Motorsports. “We have some of the most technologically advanced cars on the track; we want to transfer that technology to the asphalt to put us in the best position to make it to Le Mans.”

7th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho Wins LMP2 Class At Le Mans

The LMP2 class-winning Lola Zytek of Binnie Motorsports was shod with Kumho tyres – an historic achievement for the Korean tyre manufacturer, who was competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for only the third time. Kumho was supporting both the Binnie Motorsports entry, comprised of Bill Binnie (US), Allen Timpany (GB) and Chris Buncombe (GB), and the Kruse Motorsport Pescarolo Judd of Tony Burgess (Can), Jean de Pourtales (Fr) and Norbert Siedler (Aut). The Binnie Car won LMP2 outright and finished 18th overall. Sadly the Kruse car did not survive the full 24 hours.

Both teams used a new wider front tyre designed to help improve performance. Kumho developed new tyre constructions and compounds specifically for Le Mans and the teams were able to choose from two slick compounds, one intermediate and one wet. Said Bill Binnie: “We experienced just about every type of weather during the race from dry/warm conditions to torrential rain and used Kumho’s full arsenal of tyres as a result. They all performed admirably and were a key element of our victory.”

26th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Introduces Endurance Competition

(Akron/Tire Review) Groupe Michelin has created a new endurance race based on the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours and the six rounds of the 2007 Le Mans Series – the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge.

As part of the competition, Michelin will reward those teams that make the best use of fuel using an Energy Performance Index (EPI) calculated after each event. Prizes will be awarded to the best-performing teams in all four categories (LM P1, LM P2, GT1, GT2).

The EPI will consider each vehicle’s average speed, weight and actual fuel consumed.

27th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

BEN’s Autosport Stand Features Le Mans Winners

The NEC in Birmingham will be brimming with nostalgia and the spell of Le Mans on 13 & 14 January as one of the most significant displays of Le Mans cars ever assembled will be reunited with their legendary drivers, at Autosport International. The Le Mans feature, in association with BEN and Motor Sport magazine, will reunite the famous drivers with their famous cars, tracing the history of this near-mythical race from its very beginnings in 1923.

11th January 2007/by Tyrepress Editors