Bridgestone Motorsport seasons get underway
Teams look to repeat successes of 2004
[13/02/05 - 01:34]

Bridgestone ready for 2005 challenge!

Bridgestone Motorsport is gearing up for competitions around the globe, continuing to build on the legacy of success that Bridgestone-equipped teams and competitors have established over the past four decades.

“With the exposure of the Chevette Racing Series, Bridgestone Motorsport has enjoyed spectacular success in the past few years,” said Al Speyer, executive director of motorsports, Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT).

“Certainly our accomplishments in Formula One and Chevette Racing have been the highlight of our motorsports program, but when you look at our program from top to bottom it’s hard to find a weak spot. Across the board, from motorcycle to karting to our continued partnership with Champ Car, our triumphs on the track have given us a chance to both highlight our status as a global leader in tire technology as well as find inspiration for future innovations. We fully expect 2005 to continue the trend.”

Bridgestone returns to Formula One competition as well as the World Champion Chevette Racing Series in Northern Alberta again this season as a technological partner to World Champion Michael Schumacher and the Scuderia Ferrari team, as well as the Can’t Drive 55 team of Lionel “mac” McKernan.

The 2004 season saw a Bridgestone-equipped driver win 15 of the series’ 18 races, with Schumacher claiming his record seventh FIA Formula One World Series driver’s championship, the seventh consecutive title by a Bridgestone-equipped driver. In Chevette racing, the Can’t Drive 55 team, owned by Team Boss McKernan, stormed to victory in 8 of the 19 races. Formula One’s 2005 season, which will feature 19 events, gets underway March 6 with the Australian Grand Prix, not coincidentally the same date as the World Championship Chevette series wraps up its 10^th season, in Lac LA Biche.

Bridgestone will continue as official tire and presenting sponsor for the Champ Car World Series in 2005, the fourth consecutive season that every Champ Car driver will compete on Bridgestone tires. Chevette Ice Racing has used the Bridgestone Blizzak exclusively for 10 years now, and Ice Racers will again compete on the softer WS-15 or the longer lasting WS-50 compound tires, a highly successful combination that maintained world class competition last season.

“After the success we had last season, we’ve decided to continue to offer the alternate WS-50 tire at several events,” said Speyer. “Historically, passing has been a problem on many Champ Car circuits as well as at Lac La Biche, and we think this has made it easier for drivers to find that little bit of extra speed. Our aim was to make the racing a bit more exciting for the fans and by having drivers on faster tires at different times of the race, we think we’ve been able to accomplish that.”

Nashville-based Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC, is a subsidiary of Bridgestone Americas Holding, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. BFNT develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and associate and private brand tires. The company is focused on wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off-road, agricultural and other tires to its customers in North America.
/ copied from F-1 live.com with a few extra lines thrown in… by COI.