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Pirelli’s Hembery made Richard Burns Foundation trustee

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director, has become a trustee of the Richard Burns Foundation, established in memory of the 2001 world rally champion. “Richard was the first world champion I worked with and he set the bar in terms of being a highly motivated and competitive athlete, while remaining a very grounded, decent person and I was proud to call him a friend,” said Hembery. “Taking on the role of trustee for the Richard Burns Foundation is a privilege.”

15th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

New Bridgestone CI a “diversification” of the brand

As was reported at the beginning of March on tyrepress.com (see related news link below), Bridgestone celebrated its 80th year with a new corporate identity – altering its logo and tagline, and “refining” its corporate philosophy. Communications manager at Bridgestone UK, Andy Dingley says the evolution undergone in Bridgestone’s corporate lifespan created the need “to reflect those social changes” in its branding.

14th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Firestone to continue with IndyCar until end of 2013

Following Bridgestone Americas’ announcement that its Firestone brand would exit the IndyCar series at the end of the 2011 season, race teams met and confirmed their resolve to remain loyal to Firestone and seek a means of retaining the tyre maker’s involvement. This determination has paid off – Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations and IndyCar have announced that Firestone will continue to serve as the sole tire supplier to the IZOD IndyCar Series through the 2013 race season.

14th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Maxxis British Motocross Championship opens 2011 season

Title-sponsor Maxxis reports that the 2011 Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship got underway in Exeter on Sunday 6 March with five different winners from six races, leaving both the MX1 and MX2 classes “wide open”. Despite the cold weather, Maxxis says the season opener drew a large gallery of spectators who watched Shaun Simpson on the LS Racing Honda CRF450 take victory in the MX1 Class ahead of Buildbase CCM-Racing’s Tom Church and Jason Dougan of the Bike It Cosworth Wild Wolf Yamaha team. Despite a win in race three, the fact that pre-event favourite Stephen Sword did not finish the first two motos means he is lying in 14th position with some catching up to do.

11th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

IndyCar teams to Bridgestone: We don’t want to lose “best partner ever”

US publication Tire Review reports IndyCar teams are petitioning Bridgestone Americas to reconsider its position with the race series. Following the tyre maker’s March 4 announcement that its sponsorship and Firestone brand tyre supply contract would not be renewed after 2011, a “near-unanimous” vote is said to have been taken amongst teams to “stick with Firestone – regardless of the price.”

10th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

De la Rosa returns to McLaren; Pirelli to announce new F1 test driver

Pedro de la Rosa, who last September stepped in to replace Nick Heidfeld as Pirelli’s Formula One test driver following the German’s unexpected and ultimately short-sighted departure, has rejoined the McLaren F1 team as official test and reserve driver. De la Rosa originally joined McLaren back in 2003 and worked with the team for more than seven seasons, helping develop cars that scored 29 victories, not to mention the drivers’ world championship with Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

10th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

FIA bans retreads in European Truck Racing Championship

At its meeting in Paris on March 8, the World Motor Sport Council decided to prohibit the use of retreaded tyres in the FIA European Truck Racing Championship. The ban on retreads in the race series took effect immediately; the FIA regulatory body has not publicly outlined its motivation for the ban.

10th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook to support Gardemeister in IRC campaign

Hankook Tire says it is aiming for championship success in the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) after signing up to support driver Toni Gardemeister and his team. The Finnish driver will contest selected rounds in a Hankook shod Skoda S2000, beginning with next month’s Rally Canarias.

10th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Kumho scores third rally victory in three weeks

Kumho achieved its third rally victory in as many weeks on Saturday when Andy Burton and Robin Kellard won the Malcolm Wilson Rally in their Peugeot Cosworth. The Subaru Impreza of Roger Chilman and Andrew Sankey finished second overall and the Mitsubishi Evo IX of Stephen Petch and John Richardson finished eighth, meaning Kumho-shod cars filled three of the top 10 places on this popular event. Kumho’s European Motorsport manager Steve Thompson said: “Andy is clearly on a roll and our gravel tyres once again proved to be the best rubber for the job. We will continue to look after our growing number of runners to the best of our ability and hope the season continues as successfully as it has started.”

9th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

F1 tyre testing options boosted by regulation amendment

Amendments to the Formula One Sporting Regulations announced by the World Motor Sport Council on March 8 give tyre supplier Pirelli the option of evaluating new types of tyre during race meetings this year. The amendment states that “at certain events, one additional specification of dry weather tyre may be made available to all teams for evaluation purposes.” The Italian tyre maker adds that the option to try out new tyres “will be entirely at the discretion of the FIA, together with Pirelli, and it will only be exercised if the correct opportunity arises.”

9th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Cooper Avon launches British GT, F3 seasons

Today was the joint launch day for Cooper Avon’s biggest UK motorsport series – the British Formula Three, supplied in its 60th season by Cooper Tires, and the British GT, once again supplied by Avon Tyres, which announced this week that it had signed up to the championship until “at least 2014” – the same period for which Cooper is signed up with F3. Hosted at Silverstone, the event marks a special occasion for Cooper Avon in British F3, as this season marks the 30th anniversary of its first association with the championship, when Avon supplied the tyres to such giants of motor racing as then-future Formula One champions Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen and Jenson Button. Cooper took over the tyre supply to the series in 2008, though the tyres are still manufactured at Melksham, Wiltshire – the company’s European motorsport base.

8th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli, F1 teams return to Barcelona for further tests

The cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix has prompted the arrangement of an extra Formula One test session, and today Pirelli returns to Barcelona along with the 12 teams competing in this season’s championship. Tests will take place over a five-day period, with each team testing for a maximum of four days each. This test period will bring the teams’ total number of pre-season test days up to the agreed upon 15 days.

8th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Firestone brand to exit Indycar

The Indycar series is held in equal high esteem by US motor racing aficionados as Formula One is in other parts of the world, and as has been the case for the Bernie Ecclestone run championship, vehicles racing in Indycar have been fitted with tyres produced by Bridgestone companies for a good number of years. But the similarities do not end there; more than a year after the withdrawal from Formula one was announced, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) stated it has “mutually agreed” with Indycar to end the sponsorship and supply contract for its Firestone brand – a partnership it describes as “one of the most successful in all of motorsports” – at the end of the 2011 season.

7th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Federal the official sponsor of Australian tuning show

Summernats 2011 in Canberra, Australia has become Federal Tyres’ first name-sponsored automotive show, alongside distributor National Tyre Wholesalers. The precision driving event at Canberra Showgrounds is a motorkhana style grass event where courses are set up with varying degrees of difficulty. It tests different aspects of both the car and driver to see who can better accelerate, turn, brake and manoeuvre their way through the course in the quickest way possible.

4th March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin launches Power Cup 2011

Michelin has announced a provisional schedule for the 2011 Michelin Power Cup race series, whose entry list has grown to almost 60 riders following its first UK season last year. The series offers motorcycle racers “unprecedented amounts of track time and prizes, including tyres and sponsors’ products,” says Michelin, with TV coverage courtesy of Motors TV. The season consists of eight rounds with three 12-15 lap sprint races for 600cc and 1000cc classes at each round. The season will run from March to October with provisional stages at Brands Hatch (12-13 March), Mallory Park (16-17 April), Anglesey (28-29 May), Snetterton (18-19 June and 29-30 October), Pembrey (16-17 July), Cadwell Park (20-21 August) and Oulton Park (17 September).

3rd March 2011/by Tyrepress Editors