Bridgestone, the Official Tyre Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, is pleased to announce the compound allocations of Potenza tyres for the first five rounds of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. This season sees slick tyres make a return to Formula One after eleven seasons of grooved dry tyres. Slick tyres mean that softer rubber compounds can be used, meaning more mechanical grip is available for competitors. This change is significant for teams and drivers and is accompanied by considerable changes to the car aerodynamic packages, designed to reduce downforce and stimulate overtaking. There is a change in tyre allocation rationale too. For the past two seasons, Bridgestone has brought two consecutive compounds from its range of four rubber compounds to each event. For 2009, non- consecutive allocations will occur at most races. As well as a difference in compound stiffness, there will be a variation in temperature working range between the two allocated compounds at an event. The compounds themselves are new, because of the different requirements of slick tyres compared with grooved tyres, however they will retain the same names of hard, medium, soft and super soft. There are no changes to the wet and extreme weather tyres, which will be brought to all events in case of adverse weather. The method of distinguishing between the two compounds on event will be through means of green bands painted on the edges of the tyre sidewalls of the softer tyres at a race. This marking allows the compounds to be visually distinguishable by fans at the circuit and those watching on television. The green colour has been chosen to show Bridgestone’s continued support of the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign. Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says: “2009 looks like it should be a very exciting season with very big changes to the cars. From our perspective we have changed our allocation strategy so that we can bring non-consecutive allocations to races. The compounds will not only vary in terms of compound hardness, but also working range. We have tried to have one tyre which has a quick warm-up and delivers a fast lap time immediately, and the other tyre which has a higher working range, so will not deliver immediate fast times, but gives very consistent and durable performance when it is at its operating temperature. Of course, we are subject to many variables such as different cars and drivers, not to mention the weather, which was such a big factor in 2008. We hope that the change in allocations gives competitors a good challenge and the fans entertaining racing. We are also proud to support the FIA’s Make Cars Green campaign through our tyre markings.”

Bridgestone Motorsport F1

Kumho, einer der weltweit führenden Reifenhersteller, und die Formel 3 Euro Serie, die stärkste Nachwuchsserie der Welt, führen ihre exklusive Partnerschaft fort. Der seit 2003 laufende Vertrag wurde in dieser Woche mit einer Laufzeit bis Ende 2011 verlängert. Dadurch werden weiterhin alle Rennfahrzeuge der Serie auf einheitlichen Kumho-Reifen des Typs Ecsta ihre Einsätze bestreiten. Schon die aktuellen Formel-1-Piloten Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg und Robert Kubica sammelten einen Großteil ihrer Erfahrungen in Formel-3-Boliden mit Reifen der Marke Kumho und schafften später den Sprung in die Königsklasse.
Herausragende Qualität, eine kontinuierliche Weiterentwicklung der Reifen und eine vorbildliche technische Betreuung der Teams waren ausschlaggebend für die langfristige Orientierung des vereinbarten Vertrages. „Die Teams sind sehr zufrieden mit den konstanten Leistungen der Reifen als Basis für einen guten Sport. Darum freuen wir uns, auch in Zukunft einen internationalen Partner wie Kumho an unserer Seite zu haben“, so Walter Mertes, Geschäftsführer der Formel 3 Euro Serie Vermarktungs GmbH.
Kumho Tire Europe ist seit Gründung der Formel 3 Euro Serie exklusiver Partner. Allein in der Saison 2008 lieferte Kumho rund 8.000 Slicks und ca. 1.500 Regenreifen an die Teams aus. Außerdem beliefert der Reifenhersteller mit Sitz seiner Europa-Zentrale in Offenbach am Main sämtliche koreanischen Automobilhersteller sowie europäische Hersteller wie Volkswagen und Mercedes-Benz als Erstausrüster mit Serienbereifung.

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