Plenty of motorsports supply deal changes on horizon

AKRON—The next few years will see some noteworthy changes in the landscape of tire company motorsports affiliations, with the emergence of South Korean tire makers Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. and Kumho Tire Co. Inc. as serious international competitors and the re-engagement of Bridgestone Corp. after a 15-year hiatus.

While 2024 is pretty much status quo with 2023, starting in 2025 the picture will change measurably.

First Hankook will take over as the official tire supplier of the World Rally Championship (WRC) for three years, succeeding Pirelli & C. S.p.A. in that role.

Pirelli notified the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the sanctioning body for the WRC, in September 2023 that it intended to end its participation in the sport at the end of the 2024 championship after a four-year run as the sole tire supplier.

Parallel to that, the FIA has elevated the Kumho-backed TCR World Challenge to full FIA international championship status, making it the premier series for touring cars.

Hankook's bid for the WRC contract coincides with its decision to end its four-year tire supply contract for the Formula E championship after the 2025 season, opening the door for Bridgestone to bid for and win that contract starting with the 2026 season.

That supply deal will put the Bridgestone brand back on the international motorsports scene for the first time since 2010, when the Japanese tire maker ended its supply agreement for Formula 1 after a 13-year run.

Bridgestone—which bid unsuccessfully last year to take over the Formula 1 contract—continued to be active in motorsports in the interim via its Firestone brand's partnership with IndyCar Racing, which runs through 2025, and was extended in late 2022 to cover the series NXT companion championship.

At the same time, Pirelli will continue to be the most prominent brand in racing, despite its decision to cede the WRC supply contract.

Instead Pirelli was renewed by the FIA as the designated tire suppler for Formula 1, 2 and 3 for open-wheel racing series for three more years, through 2027, and it continues to be the sole tire supplier for a dozen or more touring and sports-car racing series around the world.

Group Michelin is firmly ensconced as the supplier of tires for the realm of sports-car endurance racing in North America (IMSA) and Europe (World Endurance Championship), while Goodyear retains its status as the designated tire supplier for the top classes of both NASCAR and the National Hot Rod Association alongside the re-emergence of the Goodyear brand as a supplier of tires for touring and sports car series in Europe.

The Continental brand will play a larger role as well, taking over in 2024 as the presenting sponsor of and sole tire supplier for the USF Pro Championships' open-wheel racing series—USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors—for five years.

Continental replaces Cooper Tire in that role for the USF series, which are part of the Road to Indy "ladder" program.

Since acquiring Cooper Tire in 2021, Goodyear has pulled the Cooper brand out of nearly all motorsports engagements. That decision also opened the door for Continental's Hoosier brand to take over the supply deal for the FIA's World Rallycross championship, and for Bridgestone to expand its Firestone IndyCar relationship to that championship's NXT feeder series.

It also faces a decision on the status of its Dunlop brand—used for the Superbrand touring-car series in Australia—pending efforts to divest the Dunlop brand and associated assets as part of its "Goodyear Forward" restructuring plan.

One other change worth noting: Michelin is switching its supply contact with the Battery Tender Mazda MX-5 Cup to the Michelin brand from BFGoodrich, which had been the brand choice for the past 14 seasons.