Firestone to continue as IndyCar racing’s sole tyre supplier till 2025
Published On 16-Feb-2019
Firestone has inked a 5 year extension to its deal of being the sole tyre supplier for the IndyCar championship. Bridgestone would be manufacturing these racing tyres for Firestone from its Akron facility.
Bridgestone owned American tyre brand Firestone has secured a 5 year extension to its deal with IndyCar championship as the sole tyre provider for the races. This extension now makes Firestone the official and exclusive tyre partner for Indy till 2025.
It is interesting to know that Firestone has been the sole tyre supplier to IndyCar racing since past 20 years. For the year 2019, Firestone would supply around 26000 FireHawk tyres to Indy teams.
Commenting on this renewed partnership, Philip Dobbs, Chief Marketing Officer with Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, said, "Champions have relied on Firestone tyres for more than a century, and racing has always been the ideal proving ground for new technologies that help us evolve and advance our company's passenger tyre offerings.
"As the NTT IndyCar Series continues gaining momentum, we are introducing new fans to the Firestone brand and strengthening our relationship with the drivers who use our durable, dependable Firestone tyres.", Philips added.
Bridgestone has announced plans of making a sizeable investment in setting up a manufacturing facility in Akron which will specially cater to Firestone racing tyres. Called the Bridgestone Advanced Tire Production Centre (ATPC), this unit would be located close to the existing Bridgestone Americas Technical Center and slowly would be responsible for creating all Bridgestone and Firestone racing tyres.
"Firestone has long been a great IndyCar partner and is making a huge investment in the NTT IndyCar Series with its new facility in Akron. This extension also reflects Firestone's commitment to helping to shape IndyCar's paddock-wide, five-year plan," said IndyCar president Jay Frye.
The partnership extension was announced at Dallara's headquarters in Speedway by four-time champion and 1969 Indy 500 winner Mario Andretti, and current IndyCar driver/owner and three-time Indianapolis 500 pole=sitter Ed Carpenter.
