Hankook, the exclusive tyre partner of the all-woman W Series since its inaugural 2019 season, will travel to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium to commence the second half of this year’s series. Featuring on the support programme for Formula 1, with which it shares the bill on eight grand prix weekends, the W Series runs on Hankook high-end Ventus Race tyre.
Goodyear’s inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign in 2020 was the prelude to a new era for the brand in the series. Goodyear is an official championship partner supplying every car in the LMP2 prototype category this season, which begins at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on Saturday 1 May with a six-hour race. In its comeback season to top-level motorsport, its first action at this level in two decades, Goodyear’s tyres were victorious in Shanghai and Bahrain, and achieved a memorable double podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Pirelli supplied its new range of GT tyres to the 2020 Spa 24 Hours, the manufacturer’s “biggest event of the year.” In total Pirelli took 13,000 tyres to the Belgian circuit in a fleet of 34 trucks, with more than 65 tyre fitters working round the clock, underlining the tyre manufacturer’s long-standing commitment to GT racing. The rescheduled event produced a thrilling competition, with multiple changes of weather and lead. The winner was only decided in the closing minutes.
Goodyear is looking forward to recommencing the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. The tyre manufacturer’s partner teams, Jota Sport and Jackie Chan DC Racing are currently second and third in the LMP2 standings. The former has finished on the podium in the last four rounds, while Jota took a memorable win at Shanghai in November. They will be joined by an additional Goodyear-shod car from Algarve Pro Racing. The Portuguese team usually competes in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) but will step up to the world stage this weekend.
On one of the most demanding circuits for tyres Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won Formula One’s Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel after what was effectively a sprint race in the final laps. The race was turned on its head by a safety car on lap 30, which gave drivers the opportunity for a ‘free’ pit stop. Hamilton, in the lead, ran the soft tyre for his final stint, while Vettel went for the ultrasoft: theoretically more than one second per lap faster.
The British GT Championship remains open to Europe in a way seemingly at odds with just over half the UK, as it ventures to Spa-Francorchamps for the fifth event of the season. Though most of the British drivers won’t be as familiar with the Belgian circuit as the season’s UK tracks, Pirelli – in its first season exclusively supplying the championship – will supply a tyre, its P Zero DHC, that has completed many thousands of laps there at the Spa 24 Hours over recent seasons. Pirelli and its engineers will be at Spa on the Tuesday prior to the British GT races for the test day of the 2016 24 Hours, which takes place at the end of the month.
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Clement Marin
Pirelli