When Japanese drivers Ukyo Katayama and Takuma Aoki get underway in the 2009 Dakar rally, held in South America between January 3 and 18, both men will be driving vehicles fitted with tyres specially developed for the competition. Manufactured by Yokohama Rubber, the rally tyres utilise a new material the company calls “Orange Oil”, a substance also employed in Yokohama’s latest generation eco tyre, the ‘DNA Earth-1’.
Only days after Suzuki announced it will not participate in the 2009 World Rally Championship, Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the manufacturer of the Subaru vehicle brand, announced on December 16 its withdrawal from the WRC at the end of the 2008 season.
The Japanese manufacturer has participated in the WRC together with UK based motorsports and automotive engineering group Prodrive during the past 19 years. Its reason for involvement was to enhance awareness of the Subaru brand by showing the vehicles, with their horizontally-opposed engine and symmetrical all-wheel drive system as core technologies, offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving regardless of weather or road conditions. From the beginning FHI also wished to featuring horizontally-opposed engine and transfer the results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.
Japanese manufacturer Suzuki has announced that it will not take part in next year’s World Rally Championship including its Junior counterpart, having competed in each of the last seven series. The company says that business concerns “caused by recent global economic turmoil” have caused it to review its financial commitment to the tournament.
A company statement said that “the organisation reviews every aspect of the operations and decided to focus on the core business functions such as the manufacturing system, environment technologies, and development of new-generation powertrains for cars. As a result, Suzuki concluded to suspend the WRC activities from 2009.” The team’s sponsors, which include Italian tyre giant Pirelli among their number, have agreed to end their current deals with the team.
Ingersoll Rand, which has been involved in the Dakar rally race for the last three years, will team up with the Euromaster, Mitsubishi and Toyota teams in 2009. It will offer them portable tools, including the new IQv range of impact wrenches. These wrenches can release torques up to 500Nm and will last three times longer than similar products on the market. IQv tools are also lighter and more compact than rival products, says Ingersoll Rand, characteristics particularly appreciated by race competitors.
Ingersoll Rand’s main partner is the Euromaster Team and has provided official team support at Dakar since 2006.
Following two days of hard-fought competition in Cumbria, 21-year old Bristol driver Adam Gould has become the recipient of the Pirelli Star Driver Award. This honour was gained through winning the Pirelli Star Driver Shootout competition, held on December 11 and 12. In order to win, Gould participated in a range of tests that extended beyond his driving prowess; the judging panel also examined the contenders’ fitness, interview presentation skills and knowledge of the sport. Gould finished the weekend ahead of seven other hopefuls, and in addition to the kudos attached to the distinction of winning, Gould’s prize covers a full funding in the 2009 British Rally Championship.
The very first World Rally Championship of the Pirelli era drew to a close in Wales on December 7, with the recently-crowned five-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb breaking his own record by claiming his 11th win in one season. Citroen-Pirelli has now taken the 2008 World Championship for Manufacturers, thanks also to a strong third place for Loeb’s teammate Dani Sordo.
Ice and frost was once again the order of the day for the final day of the Wales Rally Great Britain, which marked the end of the first World Championship held under the single tyre rule with Pirelli as the exclusive supplier. Despite the wintry conditions, Pirelli reports that its soft-compound Scorpion tyres worked well in the tricky weather, contributing to a dramatic finish. The factory Ford Focus-Pirelli of Jari-Matti Latvala led from the opening day, but Loeb overcame the deficit on the final stage to win the rally by only 12.7 seconds and give Citroen its third manufacturers’ title.
The only runner on Yokohama tyres at last weekend’s Wales Rally GB, Tom Cave led from the first stage to beat the rest of his class by almost 15 minutes, finishing 30th overall. Cave was the youngest driver ever to enter the UK round of the FIA World Rally Championship, but in the face of regular runners in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International, the one-make series for Group N Ford Fiestas, he put in a demonstrative performance on his WRC debut.
Commenting on the weekend’s result, Yokohama HPT Motorsport Manager Mark Evans said; “We are naturally delighted to have helped Tom to achieve an outstanding result on his WRC debut and offer our congratulations to him, Gemma and the rest of the Tom Cave Racing team.”
The Australian Rally Championship will be raced without a control tyre in 2009. The announcement that the upcoming season wouldn’t see the introduction of such a measure was made on December 6, following ongoing consultation between the Australian Rally Commission (ARCom) and tyre manufacturers during the course of 2008. The ARCom eventually decided the overall interests of the championship would be best served by continuing to work with the tyre companies throughout 2009 to ensure tyre parity between Group N and the lighter Super 2000 vehicles. The option remains, however, for the introduction of a control tyre at a later time.
Next year the MSA Scottish Rally Championship will gain the backing of Hankook Tire – and the manufacturer is apparently already considering extending the sponsorship deal further. Hankook replaces the County Saab motor group, following five years’ involvement, as the championship’s main sponsor.
“We are delighted to be focusing our attention in 2009 on the Scottish Rally Championship,” said Hankook motorsport manager Mike Patterson. “The series attracts some intense competition and the enthusiasm and professionalism of the organising team has been instrumental in finalising this deal.”
The youngest competitor ever to enter the UK round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB, will use Yokohama tyres at this year’s event. Welsh teenager Tom Cave, who turned 17 just 18 days before the rally begins, recently carried out a two-day test using Yokohama tyres on his Group N Ford Fiesta ST and will be competing on the Japanese brand’s rubber at the WRC finale in December.
Cave has already made an impression on the rallying world; he has been rallying in Latvia for two years and is the inspiration for the Junior Rallying scheme to develop the next generation of British rally drivers. Latvia was chosen as it allows drivers from the age of 14 to compete in genuine rallies, the RallySprint and the National championships.
Correggio, Italy-based Corghi are no strangers to innovation and adaptability. From building the world’s first fully-automated tyre changer – 2001’s Artiglio Master – the company has also specialised in a “Blue Light” vision system, which allows the engineer to interact with the wheel, balancing it from a touch screen monitor. The company also specialises in motorsport, supplying exclusively Ferrari workshops and the official tyre changer for the World Rally Championship (Artiglio 50).
Founded in 1954 by brothers Remo and Erminio, Corghi has strived to be at the forefront of its sector, especially from 1960 – the year in which the two Corghi brothers invented and patented the world’s first tyre changer. Corghi continued its development in this field, arriving at a position of leadership in the market for specialised tyre equipment. Now the firm boasts a wide range of products including automatic tyre changers, wheel balancers, wheel aligners, lifts, testing lines and applications for diagnostics, as well as many other products in the sphere of workshop equipment.
The World Rally Championship arrives in Wales in early December (4-6) for its final stage of the season. To coincide with the event, Pirelli’s depots in South Wales are offering motorists in the region free tyre pressure checks between 1 and 13 December. The Italian manufacturer supplies the control tyres for the series, whose final leg takes place in the Cardiff area.
Pirelli has added another set of supply dates to its famed calendar in a new three-year deal struck with Swedish motorsport, making the Italian giant the exclusive tyre supplier to the Swedish Rally Championship. In signing up for this exclusive supply deal, Pirelli restates its commitment to single tyre competitions, a subject currently debated in Tyrepress.com’s Question of the Month.
Pirelli states in its release that the agreement represents a vindication of the company’s decision to concentrate on the single-tyre philosophy in both racing and rally championships. This direction was set down by the FIA and has been fully supported by Pirelli, which has introduced a range of products designed to offer top performance whilst reducing overall costs: a move that makes sense in the current economic climate.
The Pirelli National Rally, based in Carlisle alongside the manufacturer’s major British plant, will be run under a new name in 2009 after it was announced that it will be integrated into the ANCRO Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship. Founding members of ANCRO, the Cumberland Sporting Car Club have decided to rename the event the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria. This was how the rally was known when it was originally part of the ANCRO series.
In addition to the Gravel Rally Championship, the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship and the Dunlop/Gambia British Historic Rally Championship will be represented with stages at the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria.
Subaru has chosen Dunlop for OE supplier to its 2008 Impreza WRX STi. The car will use the tyre maker’s SP Sport 01 in the size 235/45R17 94W.
Frédéric Schilling, brand director of Dunlop Europe, Middle East and Africa was pleased with Subaru’s decision: “Dunlop, with its long motorsport heritage and experience, is the ideal fitment for the Subaru Impreza WRX STI which is built upon a successful rally car heritage. The STI is more than a car, it’s a culture. From the very beginning the Dunlop SP Sport 01 has been developed with leading partners in the automotive industry to comply with the very latest vehicle design and construction. And, last but not least, its development draws on many Dunlop motorsport successes,” he continued.
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