Giti Tire has extended its Official Tyre Partnership with the VW Fun Cup into a third season. The tyre manufacturer’s fully livered GT Radial racing car will also make its European debut when the series travels to Circuit Zandvoort in Holland, marking the first time the company has both supplied tyres and raced a car from the series outside the UK. The calendar also features three and four-hour races at Oulton Park, Anglesey, Snetterton, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Donnington Park, in a series totalling nine rounds.
The car will be used to raise consumer awareness of the Giti and GT Radial brands through TV and with race spectators, while GT Radial will also benefit from a series of marketing activities throughout the GT Radial Performance Centre (GTPC) network with exclusive UK distributor, Micheldever Tyre Services.
All cars in the competition will run on the Giti GTR2, part of a comprehensive range of competition racing tyres used in events around the world. The manufacturer states that its technology findings from motorsport are adapted to develop further its everyday passenger car portfolios.
The Fun Cup endurance championship began in the UK in 2002, with the objective of providing cost-effective, close, exciting racing. The grid regularly tops 30 identical, race designed, single-seaters with a super-strong space frame chassis based on the Volkswagen Beetle. They are powered by an 1800cc, 130 bhp VW/Audi petrol engine with a Sadev sequential gearbox as well as race brakes and fully adjustable suspension.
Brian McDermott, sales and marketing director – Europe for Passenger Car and Light Truck (PCR) and country manager – UK for Giti Tire, added: “Our participation in the last two seasons has achieved astonishing results, with our MIRA team, journalists and GTPC dealers all getting behind the wheel and thoroughly enjoying the thrill of Fun Cup racing. Add to this the audience numbers, and the brand reach was impressive.
“It will be a real bonus to take the series abroad this year, where we will be able to increase the knowledge of the Giti and GT Radial brands to a whole new audience in the Netherlands.
“Rest assured we will continue our European motorsport programme not only in terms of its marketing possibilities, but the technical information it supplies to our research and developments facilities in Germany and throughout the world.”
