Goodyear congratulates first King of PURE ETCR as inaugural season closes

• PURE ETCR’s inaugural King of the Season is crowned
• Goodyear the exclusive tyre supplier to forward-thinking championship
• Goodyear’s Sebastian Trinks reflects on the season

The inaugural season of PURE ETCR, the world’s first all-electric multi-brand touring car championship, came to a close on Sunday with the finale at Pau-Arnos in southwest France. As the exclusive tyre supplier and founding partner to this groundbreaking championship, Goodyear has been at the forefront of PURE ETCR action all season. Mattias Ekström was crowned the first PURE ETCR King of the Season on Sunday.

After rounds in Italy, Spain, Denmark and Hungary, the PURE ETCR paddock visited the Circuit Européen Pau-Arnos, which has recently reinvented itself as a hub for electric vehicles, and as such is a suitable location for the forward-thinking electric touring car championship. Launched this year, PURE ETCR has featured fully electric touring cars from Hyundai and CUPRA’s motorsport departments, as well as Romeo Ferraris’ independent car based on the Alfa Romeo Giulia. Producing 500 kW in a rear-wheel-drive layout, these cars are the most powerful touring cars ever built, and never fail to put on a spectacle for the fans with the short, sharp bursts of competition in the series’ ‘battle’ format. 

After three days of battles at Pau-Arnos, Hyundai driver Jean-Karl Vernay was named the King of the Weekend, scoring the most points of the field, but a fifth place finish in the Super Final B was enough for Swedish touring car legend Ekström to secure the season title, driving for Spanish brand CUPRA, which won the manufacturers’ title. 

Goodyear’s involvement with PURE ETCR manufacturers like CUPRA extends beyond the racetrack. CUPRA has chosen Goodyear tyres as original equipment (OE) for a number of its current road cars, including the flagship Formentor VZ5 and variants of the León which come as standard with the road-going version of Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport. 

Sebastian Trinks, Goodyear Event Leader for WTCR and PURE ETCR: “Congratulations to Mattias Ekström for becoming the first ever PURE ETCR King of the Season, in such a competitive contest that was ultimately decided by just four points. We at Goodyear have been impressed with the quality of racing and the spectacle that PURE ETCR has become, and we have to thank Eurosport Events for this. We’re looking forward to supporting them as PURE ETCR grows for its second season in 2022!”