Goodyear announced today that it will be the official tyre supplier to two top teams in the upcoming Dakar Rally. In 2020, the famous rally will return to its roots, the desert. The race starts on January 5th in Jeddah, Saudi-Arabia. A new continent represents new challenges, especially on the tyre front. The next edition includes a mix of sandy dunes, rocky canyons and wadi’s or dry riverbeds, testing drivers, vehicles and tyres to the max.
One of the rules in the Dakar Rally is that the teams have to compete on standard truck tyres. Goodyear has already a strong proof record in the super marathon race. Many teams are participating in the race on the brand’s tyres. In previous years, PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO already occupied many podium places including two first places with Goodyear as their tyre and development partner.
2019-2020 Motorsport Season – Goodyear official tyre supplier of KAMAZ-master
For the 2019-2020 motorsport season, Goodyear is pleased to start a collaboration with one of the leading automotive racing teams, KAMAZ-master. Based on the successful experience on Goodyear 375/90R22.5 OFFROAD ORD tyres, the team saw the potential and reliability of these tyres and decided to sign a contract for the entire season. Besides the Dakar rally in Saudi-Arabia, Goodyear will also support the team in the Silkway in China.
“Achieving success in the toughest motorsport disciplines on the planet is possible only if all components of the truck are of the highest quality and perfectly perform their tasks” – said Vladimir Chagin, Director of KAMAZ-master racing team. “This also applies to tyres: our technical specialists count on the potential and reliability of Goodyear ORD tyres, and we are glad to start official cooperation between the KAMAZ-master team and the Goodyear brand — I am sure there are many new achievements to come.”
Long-term development partnership with PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO
The team has a long-term partnership with Goodyear, over the years this collaboration resulted in a series of wins, including twice the Dakar, one win in the Africa Eco Race and many more podium places over the years. This ultimately proves the performance of the tyres in a variety of extreme conditions.
“Goodyear is closely involved in the pre-testing phase, the input we get from the engineering team is supporting us in optimising the set-up of the vehicle, so the truck and the tyres work seamlessly together. To get the best results, we define how to adapt the tyre pressure in order to optimise the performance and extend the tyre life, as this means sometimes win or lose”explains Henk Van Leuven, Team manager of PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO rally team.
Goodyear OFFROAD ORD tyres
The Goodyear Offroad ORD is designed for off-road performance with excellent traction and increased resistance to damage. The tyres offer advanced robustness in extreme conditions.
The tread pattern with massive blocks along with the optimised compound provides:
- high resistance to tearing and cutting
- uniform wear
- advanced durability
Deep and wide grooves simplify self-cleaning of the tread and increase traction on a wide variety of surfaces from mud, rough rocks, loose sand and slippery slopes like in mines and quarries.
“Rallies like the Dakar are an ultimate testbed to proof the performance of our standard off-road truck tyres in a very tough environment. The tyre data gathered from testing our products in very challenging and demanding conditions enables us to take our development process to the next level,” says Maciej Szymanski, Director Marketing for Goodyear Commercial tyres in Europe. “This way, we can further optimise the robustness and traction of the Goodyear OFFROAD ORD tyre, important for fleets that want to maximise uptime in tough day to day off-road operations.”
The biggest challenge
One of the biggest challenges for the tyres operating within extreme conditions like the Dakar is heat management. Driving at high speed on rocky surfaces and hot sandy dunes makes the temperature inside the tyre rise rapidly. High temperature in the tyres makes them more vulnerable to deformation and tyre damage. Controlling the heat in the tyre can make a difference between finishing the race and being in the top ranks or having to change the tyre and catch up. Teams can manage the heat to a certain extend by reducing the speed or lowering the tyre pressure. A robust carcass and cool running characteristics, as in the Goodyear OFFROAD ORD tyres, can make them win additional critical time and keep them ahead of the game.
Goodyear has a rich motorsport history in FIA European Truck Racing Championship (ETRC), FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and NASCAR. In addition to the 14 wins in the Le Mans 24 hours, Goodyear tyres were used to win 368 Formula One Grand Prix – a record that stands unbeaten. For the upcoming Dakar, the brand is counting on adding more impressive wins with two top teams and building on the heritage, passion, innovation and technology that make up Goodyear’s story in racing.
