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Back to November 2011 Motorsports News Archive
| 18-11-2011 at 08:00: Hankook Gets To Grips with DTM | |
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Despite race conditions which ranged widely from the sandy surface of Zandvoort in The Netherlands, the fast speeds of Speilberg in Austria and the high kerbstones of Hockenheim in Germany, none of the Audi or Mercedes-Benz teams experienced a significant tyre performance issue. Hankook says the challenge faced by its engineers lay in developing a race tyre that was equally suitable to all cars and teams in the championship. “Our engineers did a great job in producing a tyre that allowed all teams to adapt their car to every race track,” said Hankook’s head of motorsport Europe, Manfred Sandbichler. “The tyre guaranteed absolutely equal chances for all, and this is one of the reasons why the season was so competitive and one of the most exciting for a long time.” DTM chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht said that Hankook’s organisation and tyre supply logistics were equally impressive. “With the organisation behind it, I can only express a really big compliment,” said Aufrecht. “One has to say that from zero to 100, a great job is being done. Hankook has arrived in the big DTM family.” Audi’s head of motorsport, Dr Wolfgang Ullrich, said Hankook has done an excellent job with tyre development. “They certainly had a difficult job, but we found the tyres worked very well on our cars. “Based on interaction with Hankook’s technicians we were able to take the right decisions in the races every time, which certainly helped us win the championship.” Audi driver Martin Tomczyk won the DTM title after almost a decade of trying, ahead of fellow Audi driver Mattias Ekstrom and Mercedes-Benz’s Bruno Spengler. Next year Audi and Mercedes-Benz cars – and BMW’s debuting DTM machine – will be built to new, low-cost technical regulations that specify considerably larger tyres. Rather than the current size of 260/660 R18 at the front and 280/660 R18 rear, the new cars will have front tyres sized 300/680 R18 and rears sized 320/710 R18. Hankook’s head of motorsport development, James Kim, says various compounds and constructions are being tested in order to meet the requirements of all three manufacturers. “We have been conducting ‘blind tests’ in which drivers pass on their subjective impressions,” said Kim. “Based on their feedback and our objective data we will choose a tyre that best suits all competitors.” |
DTM teams and drivers have praised the performance of Hankook Tire during its first year as the exclusive supplier to the prestigious European touring car series.^ Back to top ^
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