(Akron/Tire Review) Kumho Tire U.S.A. will supply race tires to Intersport Racing for the upcoming 2007 American Le Mans Series season. Intersport, which runs an AER-powered Lola in the ALMS LMP2 class, will race on Kumho tires for the first time at the Mobil One Twelve Hours of Sebring on Mar. 17.
Spanish driver Antonio Albacete has taken out the FIA European Truck Racing Championship for 2006 in his Goodyear fitted Cepasa team MAN. Albacete finished second place at Le Mans, the final race of the season, securing himself a championship winning 346 points from the season’s eight qualifying races.
In the USA, the Aston Martin DBR9s on their Pirelli P Zero Racing tyres have won another round in the 2006 American Le Mans Series. Sarrazin-Lamy won the last race of the season at Laguna Seca, dominating the Californian event almost non-stop for the four hours of its duration. The winning DBR9-Pirelli also started from pole position, a feat the Aston Martins achieved no fewer than seven times in the season’s 10 races that comprised the 2006 American Le Mans Series.
Yokohama HPT has added three new ranges of alloy wheels to its product portfolio, with each range specific to a vehicle marque. The wheel ranges are from US companies Bayern, Mandrus and Victor Equipment and the marques are BMW, Mercedes and Porsche, respectively.
After winning the Team title in Budapest, the Maserati MC12s of Team Vitaphone – fitted with Pirelli P Zero Racing tyres – picked up the Drivers’ title as the team of Bertolini-Bartels notched up a fifth win in nine races at Adria in the latest stage of the 2006 FIA-GT Championship. As well as the two Maseratis finishing 1st and 2nd, two Aston Martin DBR9s, also fitted with Pirelli P Zero Racing tyres, finished 4th and 5th, with the Babini-Pescatori Aston setting the fastest lap round the Venetian circuit.
Just two weeks after their win at Lime Rock Park, Pirelli and Aston Martin returned to the winners circle in the USA at the inaugural
Utah Grand Prix, fifth round of the American Le Mans Series, held at the brand new Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City. The road racing circuit is the longest in the US at 4.5 miles; a challenge of 24 curves made all the more challenging by hot weather and the mixture of salt and sand continually blown onto the asphalt, making it highly abrasive.
KYB has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the Aston Martin Racing team to supply its Electronic Power Steering (EPS) system. The Prodrive-run team, which returned to international motor sport last year, will run two DBR9s in the GT1 class for the 2006 Le Mans 24 hours race. Two further DBR9s will be competing, run by other Aston Martin Racing Works and customer teams. KYB’s EPS system – specially designed for racing use – is fitted to all four cars and, says KYB, it provides more energy-efficient steering than conventional hydraulic power steering systems.
KYB has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the Aston Martin Racing team to supply its Electronic Power Steering (EPS) system. The Prodrive-run team, which returned to international motor sport last year, will run two DBR9s in the GT1 class for the 2006 Le Mans 24 hours race. Two further DBR9s will be competing, run by other Aston Martin Racing Works and customer teams. KYB’s EPS system – specially designed for racing use – is fitted to all four cars and, says KYB, it provides more energy-efficient steering than conventional hydraulic power steering systems.
In 2005 O•Z Racing celebrated successes with Fernando Alonso and Renault F1 in the constructors’ and drivers’ world championships. The start of the 2006 season has produced a strong opener to the year not only for Renault, but for O•Z Racing as well. The wheel manufacturer is once again the supplier to the World Champion team as well as to the Williams team, which also has a successful Formula One track record.
The new partnership between Aston Martin and Pirelli got off to the best possible start in qualifying for the 54th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the opening round of the 2006 American Le Mans Series. In typical Floridian hot afternoon conditions, the two Astons scorched around the track to take first and second grid positions ahead of the two factory Corvettes. Pedro Lamy in car #009 set a new GT1 class qualifying lap record of 1.55.286.
The new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, is eagerly-awaited by fans keen to check out the stunts, the Bond girls and of course to see how Daniel Craig handles himself as the new James Bond. However, for a number in the audience, it will, once again be the hero’s choice of car that catches the eye. It’s an obsession that Richard Stewart Williams understands.
Richard just loves Aston Martins – in fact, there’s nothing he doesn’t know about them. He began work as an Aston Martin apprentice and for over thirty years has run his own highly successful company, Richard Stewart Williams Ltd in Cobham, Surrey, where his team service, sell and race the iconic cars.
The Dunlop Race Academy is pulling up to the starting grid once again as the 2006 contest opens to applicants. Over 8000 people applied to enter last year and Dunlop is expecting even more this time round as budding racing stars compete to race in a televised championship race at Donington, before jetting off to Monaco to sample the life of a racing driver.
Seven regional finalists will be chosen to undergo training at Donington from experts such as Le Mans 24 Hour racing driver, Calum Lockie, as they endeavour to learn the skills needed to be a star on the track.
Audi hopes that its brand-new R-10 will become the first-ever diesel car to be victorious at the Le Mans 24-Hour race next June. The 650 bhp car will be fitted with what are described as “wider and grippier” Michelin tyres.
The final three contestants of the Dunlop Race Academy 2 will go head to head at Silverstone on 24th August for the chance to compete in the Dunlop Driver’s Cup; the final round in the highly competitive Ginetta Championship where they will share the track with experienced racers.
Alec Berry from County Durham, Simon Shaw from Warrington and Luke Debono-Wilson from Essex, who will represent the North East, North West and South East were chosen from over 8,000 entrants. Seven regional winners competed at Donington race track to make this final three and were scored by the Dunlop Race Academy judges as they completed a full day of driver coaching and evaluation, fitness and media tests on the Donington Grand Prix circuit.
Pirelli is to support to some “top teams” that it says have “an optimum chance of acquitting themselves well” at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The legendary French endurance race, which will take place from 18 to 19 June, will see Pirelli support squads entered in three of the four categories permitted.
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