Beginning in 2011, Continental will become the official tire of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. The tire maker replaces Pirelli, which says it declined to seek an extension of its three-year supply contract with the circuit.
Pirelli will finish out this year’s series with enthusiasm and continued top-performing tire services, according to Tom Gravalos, Pirelli’s vice president of motorsports, marketing and original equipment sales.
“We decided not to pursue renewing our contract with Grand-Am in order to redeploy our resources on sustainable growth with a wider range of motorsports customers throughout North America and with a goal of improved profitability,” Gravalos explains.
“Pirelli’s North American Motorsport operations will reinforce our national network of motorsport tire distribution while accessing a greater breadth of the race tire market,” he says.
In October of 2009 Continental formed a business alliance with Hoosier Racing Tire, which had been the Grand-Am racing rubber of choice prior to Pirelli’s involvement.
Bill Caldwell, Continental’s vice president of sales and marketing, says the company “is committed to being a leading force in the motorsports community – and becoming the official tire of the Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is part of that strategy.”
He adds that “the Rolex series is one of the most highly-regarded racing series in the U.S., and will be a perfect format to emphasize the capabilities of our Continental ExtremeContact ultra-high performance tires.”
“Continental Tire was selected through a stringent evaluation process to be official tire of the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2011, and we are excited that they are expanding their current partnership with Grand-Am Road Racing,” reports Kevin Hindson, the circuit’s vice president of marketing and communications.
“Continental Tire’s display of its commitment to motorsports tire technology can only enhance the already-high level of competition of the world’s premier road racing series,” he says.
According to Caldwell and Hindson, Continental and Grand-Am will jointly conduct a series of tire technology tests throughout the 2010 season.
For more information, visit www.grand-am.com, www.conti-na.com, www.hoosiertire.com and www.us.pirelli.com.
