Goodyear ready for the new season of truck racing action

Goodyear has been part of the ETRC world for nearly two decades. The tyres supplied to all competing teams can harness the enormous peak torque figure of 5,500 Nm, which can thrust the trucks from 0-100 km/h in five seconds.

Supporting new talent

Goodyear continues its extended commitment in the FIA European Truck Racing Championship and is proud to continue its support of new talent in ETRC with the continuation of the Goodyear Cup, promoting the star drivers of tomorrow.

The Goodyear Cup is only open to the less experienced drivers in ETRC, excluding drivers such as former champions and the top eight from the prior season. This gives the up and coming drivers an opportunity to get more media attention and compete for their own prizes and points.

Maciej Szymanski, Marketing Director for Goodyear Commercial Europe: “Goodyear is at the forefront of global motorsport, we have a long standing commitment to the ETRC and we are proud to be able to take a role in promoting and celebrating up and coming talent. The Goodyear Cup will bring more attention to these future stars, their sponsors and partners.”

Rolf Werner, Managing Director at ETRA: “We are very pleased to welcome Goodyear again as the title sponsor of the Promoter’s Cup. Goodyear has been a valued long-term partner and the extension of their commitment in the Chrome driver category is a strong signal in difficult times that underlines their support of the sport.”

Learning from the racetrack

The Goodyear truck racing tire has the same 315/70R22.5 size and carcass technology as many Goodyear on-road products but has a unique asymmetrical design. The design has been optimised to obtain the best pressure distribution in contact with the ground, the best strength and better performance. The 5.1 mm grooves allow efficient water evacuation but combined with a stiff construction and a tread to tarmac contact area of 89% to give optimum dry grip, braking and traction.

These racing tires are developed by the same team that works on Goodyear’s high technology truck tires including the acclaimed KMAX-GEN 2 and FUELMAX-GEN 2 ranges. “This means the learnings from the racetrack and the road can easily and quickly transfer between the respective experts to help maintain Goodyear’s leadership position in truck tire development. On the road, Goodyear’s truck tires have to cope with high mileage fleets, have the strength and durability to reduce downtime, as well as heavy urban stop-start use. These tires use technology cascaded from Goodyear’s ETRC experience. Racing gives our engineers an insight into how advanced materials respond to high-speed kerb impacts, high temperatures, heavy braking, and huge torque figures,” added Szymanski.

Pan-European racing

The Hungaroring weekend features the fan-friendly ETRC format of four action-packed races. The championship then visits the Nürburgring in Germany for two four-race rounds, before racing at Most (Czech Republic), Zolder (Belgium), Le Mans (France), Jarama (Spain) and Misano (Italy).

The Hungaroring is one of the most popular events for fans on the ETRC calendar thanks to its proximity to major cities, neighbouring countries and being just 20 km from Budapest. Fans are core to the ETRC, drawn by the noise and drama of a packed grid of race-prepared 1,500 hp trucks, all based on road-going 4x2 tractor units. Thanks to strict COVID-19 testing and precautions, the ETRC weekend will be one of the first international motorsport events to be able to welcome fans back through the gates in 2021. The Hungaroring celebrates 35 years since its first Formula 1 Grand Prix this month, a race that was won by Nelson Piquet in his Goodyear-shod Williams.

More information can be found on the Official Site of FIA European Truck Racing Championship (fiaetrc.com).