World Rally Championship Archives - Page 11 of 18 - Tyrepress

WRC

Posts

Loeb Notches Up Yet Another Rally Deutschland WRC Win

Count ‘em up while you still can – another couple of seasons and we’ll run out of fingers. Sebastien Loeb has achieved his eighth victory in Rally Deutschland, the German round of the Word Rally Championship. Driving a Citroën C4 on Pirelli’s PZero tyre, the six-time world champion was fastest on nine of the event’s 19 special stages, which covered a total distance of 407.31 competitive kilometres through the Mosel and Saarland regions of Germany, making it the longest WRC round so far this season. Loeb’s win, alongside co-driver Daniel Elena, was his 59th in the world championship.

23rd August 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Loeb On Top With Pirelli In Bulgaria

Borovets in Bulgaria was home to the tough 220.03 mile course of Rally Bulgaria, round seven of the 2010 World Rally Championship, of which Pirelli is the exclusive tyre supplier under a three-year agreement with the FIA, motorsport's world governing body.

It was the threat of unpredictable weather that made the availability of the soft compound Pirelli P Zero tyre essential for the competing crews. On gravel events, WRC regulations restrict drivers to a pre-determined compound of Pirelli's Scorpion tyre. On asphalt events, they can choose between the hard (for dry conditions) or soft (for wet conditions) compound P Zero, albeit with a restriction of 40 covers in total. In Bulgaria, they had an allocation of 34 hard compound tyres and 24 soft compound tyres, eight more than usual, following reports of possible thunderstorms.

14th July 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

WRC Supply Open to All Tyre Makers in 2011

As of 2011, tyre supply to the FIA World Rally Championship is will be open to any tyre manufacturer. On June 23 the FIA gave public notice that the regulations covering tyre supply have been amended to “control costs”. These altered regulations will be presented to the World Motor Sport Council for a fax vote before July 20. The FIA Junior World Rally Championship will, however, continue with a single tyre supplier.

25th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

F1 Tyre Supply to Have “Zero” Impact on Pirelli’s Budget

The cat’s been out of the bag for a couple of weeks, but now it is official – as of next year, Pirelli will serve as official exclusive tyre supplier to the Formula One championship. The Italian manufacturer will supply all F1 teams from 2011 to 2013, and no additional funds are required in order to do so.

24th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Confirmed – Pirelli to Supply F1

The cat’s been out of the bag for a couple of weeks, but now it is official – as of next year, Pirelli will serve as official exclusive tyre supplier to the Formula One championship. The Italian manufacturer will supply all F1 teams from 2011 to 2013 and supply six types of tyre: four for dry weather, one for rain and one intermediate tyre.

24th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Report: Hankook Considering Formula One Supply

Hankook Tyres is reportedly planning to supply its tyres to Formula One racing teams “within a few years.” The Australian Brisbane Times quotes Hankook executive vice president, Hyun Bum Cho, as saying: “In the future we want to have some hefty market share in that [racing] segment. It’s quite profitable…but in order to really leverage from motorsports in terms of brands, you need to participate in either World Rally Championship or a very high segment in Le Mans, or Formula One…So in the future that’s the target that we have, to participate in those segments.”

4th June 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Returns to Single-Seater Racing at Spanish GP

Pirelli is to supply tyres for single-seater racing for the first time since 1991 in the new GP3 Series, which will support Formula One’s Spanish Grand Prix on 7-9 May. The Italian manufacturer says it will use the event to submit a tender to supply Formula One from next season. Pirelli will be the sole supplier for GP3, which the manufacturer says has been pitched as “a stepping-stone to GP2, a direct feeder category to Formula One”. The supply agreement is the most clear indication of Pirelli’s intentions for the Formula One tyre supply slot due to be vacated by Bridgestone at the end of the 2010 season.

7th May 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Star Driver Kicks off for 2010

The second season of the Pirelli Star Driver programme gets underway on April 15 at the Rally of Turkey, and Pirelli Star Driver supervisor Phil Short anticipates his fresh charges’ first taste of World Rally Championship action will teach them plenty. “I’ve already suggested to them that they treat the Rally of Turkey as an extended test session, to get more distance and time in the car under their belts – and to think about bringing the cars to the finish with a solid result,” he advised, adding: “You don’t learn too much when your car is on a trailer.”

12th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli to Supply WRC for Another Year

The FIA has extended its World Rally Championship (WRC) control tyre deal with Pirelli for another year, reportedly enabling it to take another year to decide whether or not to open up the series up to competing tyre makers in 2012. Pirelli was the only firm to tender for the 2011-2013 contract, but Autosport reported that the FIA and Pirelli reached a “single season solution” in talks.

8th April 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Expresses Confidence in WRC Rubber

When Pirelli says it is ready for Jordan, it is of course referring to the country rather than “celebrity” Katie Price. The desert-like conditions of the Middle East land await drivers participating in the next round of the World Rally Championship, and the tyre supplier is confident its Scorpion rally tyre is more than up to the job.

30th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama Rubber Outlines 2010 Motorsport Activities

Motorsport participation is a stated component of Yokohama Rubber’s strategy for the global development of its flagship ‘Advan’ tyre brand. On March 5 the company announced its Motor Sports Activity Plan for 2010, in which it outlines its continued active support of motor racing in Japan and many other countries. Below are the highlights of the activity plan:

8th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Exide Commits to Continued Team Solberg WRC Sponsorship

Exide Technologies has announced the continued sponsorship of Henning Solberg in the World Rally Championship. The company’s Norwegian subsidiary has sponsored Solberg since 1993 and this sponsorship was broadened to include Exide’s entire European Transportation organisation several years ago. As part of the company’s sponsorship, Exide Technologies provides the with Exide batteries for its vehicles. Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud will again sport Exide logos on their uniforms and car.

5th March 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Selection Gamble Leaves Loeb Adrift in WRC Sweden

Mikko Hirvonen won the Rally of Sweden stage of the World Rally Championship, after his nearest rival and 2009 champion Sebastien Loeb chose to hold onto his worn tyres at stage 14. Hirvonen changed the Pirelli tyres on his Ford and opened up a 6.2-second gap, finally ending the second day 16 seconds ahead of Loeb, whose change to new front tyres at the next stage saw his challenge effectively ended: “Having new tyres at the front and destroyed ones at the rear was worse than have four destroyed ones,” he said. The margin widened during the latter stages of the third day, allowing the Finn to claim victory for BPFord AbuDhabi WRT.

15th February 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

World Rally Championship to Tie Up Pirelli Deal Until 2013: Reports

Reports on Wednesday 3 February suggest that Pirelli is about to be confirmed as the tyre supplier for the World Rally Championship after its current deal runs out at the end of the 2010 season. An anonymous source for Autosport's report suggests that the Italian manufacturer is in fact “the only firm in the running for the contract. We saw that when the envelope with the tenders in was opened last year.” Autosport also states that the value of the company’s bid is likely to be some way short of the 11 million euros paid as part of the current three-year deal. The final decision will be made at a World Motorsport Council meeting in March.

3rd February 2010/by Tyrepress Editors

Autosport International Show Celebrates 20 Years

The much-hyped snow storm that turned much of the United Kingdom white earlier in the month did not prevent Autosport International, Europe’s largest motorsport trade show, from celebrating its 20th anniversary in style at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, UK, on 14-17 January 2010. Reportedly, over 85,000 visitors made the trip to the West Midlands, helping trade to increase by 10 per cent on the previous year in spite of the weather. Perhaps a general thawing in the global economic situation was more on the minds of visitors than the snow drifts hastily formed by NEC staff clearing the car parks for visitors when Tyres & Accessories arrived on Thursday 14 January to take in stands representing tyre manufacturers Dunlop, Pirelli, Yokohama and Hoosier Tire, as well as the many other automotive products and servicing equipment on display.

29th January 2010/by Tyrepress Editors