South Korea has tentatively been chosen to host a Formula One race and now a tyre maker from the country has set its sights on supplying rubber to the participating teams.
It’s believed that Kumho had approached the FIA following Bridgestone’s decision to cease supplying tyres for the sport at the end of this season.
While Pirelli may have won the rights to be Formula One’s sole tyre supplier for the period of 2011-2013, after that the tender will be opened again and Kumho just might be eyeing that slot.
“As we are a relative newcomer with the shortest history among the global top ten tyre makers, we need to compete in the global market with our technical power, and motor sports is the area where we can show off our capabilities,” said Kumho Tires Chief Executive Officer Jong-Ho Kim.
Even though the tyre maker has absolutely no experience at the top tier of motorsport, they are a big player in the F3 world, which makes the logical next step Formula One.
“We already completed the development of F1 tyres in 2007 and now watch for an opportunity to enter into the F1 market as well,” he added.
Another Korean tyre maker, Hankook, has recently been linked to Formula One as well but Kim insisted that Kumho “is the only Korean company to own the technology to produce tyres for Formula one vehicles”.
Source: WorldCarFans
Attachments
Last edited:
