MOTORSPORT
Birmingham motorcyclist, Mitu Rahman has won a Pirelli Yamaha YZF-R1 British Superbike ‘pace bike’ in a competition organised by the Italian tyre company and Black Horse Consumer Finance. The bike was also signed by 2011 BSB champion Tommy Hill, and comes equipped with the latest Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa tyres. The bike helped Hill beat American rival Hopkins to take the series crown in the final round at Brands Hatch by 0.006 seconds.
With the 2012 season on the horizon, Formula One’s tyre supplier is looking towards 2013 to develop its product further; however, developments have hit a road block due to the unavailability of a suitable testing vehicle. Pirelli’s Motorsport director, Paul Hembery told Autosport magazine that its hunt for a 2011 car is being compromised by F1 teams’ hawkish attitude to the possibility of another team gaining an advantage by donating its car to the tyre supplier.
Pirelli hosted a number of cars including the Mini JCW racing car to be used in the latest Pirelli-supplied series, the Mini Challenge, at the Autosport International Show. The company says the Birmingham NEC show is considered to be the motorsport season opener, giving participants and spectators the chance to come together and see a brief insight into the year ahead. In addition to the exhibition of cars, Pirelli used its association with Formula One to raise £725 for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.
While Toyo had hoped for honours at the Dakar Rally 2012, the Hummers it supported finished in creditable positions, with five stage victories and a further five podiums going to the Speed Energy / Toyo Tires Hummers. Robby Gordon and navigator Johnny Campbell finished the 2012 Dakar on a high note by winning the 29km timed special of Stage 14, the last in this year’s off-road marathon rally. Gordon finished fifth overall, with his vehicle being the only two-wheel drive vehicle finishing in the top ten.
Stack Ltd exhibited at the 24th Performance Racing trade show in Orlando Florida at the start of December. The company, which is a leading global supplier of instrumentation, video-loggers and data acquisition systems to the Motorsport Industry reportedly has a firm foundation in Formula One and an increasing interest in high-tech tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS).
Exhaust manufacturer, Milltek Sport showcased new sponsorship deals, fitments and continued investment in its UK factory at Autosport International. The company will be a series sponsor of the MSA UK Time Attack series for the next three years, during which it will be the “Official Exhaust of Time Attack”. Milltek says the series, which includes road cars “with F1 power levels” will allow the company to participate in “a valuable two-way flow of technical information” between top teams and Milltek’s own engineers.
The battle of the supercars in the Dunlop Dubai 24 hour race is made possible by the frenetic activities of tyre-fitters in the pit lane, which the headline sponsor and tyre supplier calls “the world’s busiest fast fit centre”. During the 24 hour race, the Dunlop team fitted over 3500 racing tyres. At peak times, during the opening stages of the race when all the cars were competing, the team was fitting, inflating and balancing a Dunlop tyre every 15 seconds.
Stéphane Peterhansel in his ALL 4 Racing Mini completed victory in the Dakar rally, aided by American tyre brand, BFGoodrich, recording its twelfth Dakar win – its tenth in a row. The rally finished in Lima, Peru on Sunday, with Peterhansel taking his personal score on the event to 10 wins. BFGoodrich’s maiden Dakar success was in 1999, and the American tyre brand, which belongs to the Michelin group, hasn’t been beaten on the off-road rally since 2002.
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Dmack Tyres will introduce two new tyres for its second season in the FIA World Rally Championship at next week’s series opener, Rallye Monte Carlo, which returns to WRC after a few years away. The tyre brand says it will approach the 2012 season “with a sense of optimism and confidence” after Ott Tanak achieved a top-six performance on the series-closing Rally GB using its tyres; Dmack says 2011 was largely “a development year”, and has now developed two new asphalt tyres specifically to cope with the demands of a rally steeped in motorsport heritage.
Cooper Tire Europe says it has expanded its involvement in endurance rallying, with its 4×4 products victorious in two high-profile events this month. In the Dakar, Spaniard Xavier Foj won the T2 production class in his Discoverer S/T MAXX-shod Toyota Land Cruiser 150. Meanwhile, ex-Formula 1 driver and endurance rally veteran, Jean-Louis Schlesser, won his fourth consecutive Africa Eco Race, using Cooper’s Discoverer STT tyre for the first time.
Michelin’s bike tyres were fitted to the Dakar Rally motorcycle winner’s bike for the 29th time this weekend; rally winner, Cyril Despres’ KTM was equipped with the latest Michelin Desert Race tyres was the winner, while another Michelin-equipped KTM, ridden by Spaniard Marc Coma claimed second place, completing a one-two finish for Red Bull/KTM. Portugal’s Helder Rodrigues’s Yamaha, also equipped with Michelin Desert front tyres with the French manufacturer’s Bib-Mousse inserts, came third.
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Pirelli will provide tyres to the MSA British Rally Championship for the next two years. The premium manufacturer has supplied the control tyre to the series since 2007, and was previously contracted until the end of the 2012 season. Pirelli says the addition of two years has shown its ongoing commitment to national-level motorsport.
Hirohide Hamashima, formerly manager of Bridgestone’s Motorsport department, has been hired by Ferrari to be the luxury car brand’s Formula One Team tyre development director. Hamashima worked with Bridgestone, which supplied tyres to F1 from 1997, until pulling out at the end of the 2010 season.
Japanese tyre manufacturer, Yokohama has been selected as the control tyre provider for the 2012 and 2013 seasons of the FIA Formula Two championship. Run by MSV and headed by former Formula One driver, Dr Jonathan Palmer, Formula 2 is recognised as a stepping stone to Formula One for aspiring single seat racers. The adoption of Yokohama as control tyres means the addition of a second FIA championship to the Japanese brand's portfolio; it has provided the control tyres for the FIA World Touring Car Championship since 2006.
Pirelli has announced a new control tyre sponsorship with the Mini Challenge. The manufacturer is currently displaying several exciting competition cars at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham between 12 and 15 January. Pirelli will also unveil the latest livery for the Pirelli Star Driver UK programme, which since 2008 has given an up-and-coming talent a fully-paid drive on the British Rally Championship.
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