Hankook books busy motorsports season

WAYNE, N.J. (March 10, 2014) — Hankook Tire America Corp. will continue in 2014 to support a multifacted involvement in motorsports, with engagements in drifting, road racing, off-road racing and hill climbs.

Among its key engagements, Hankook will return for a second year as the main sponsor of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the second oldest race in America, and will support a number of competitors at the event.

This year's Pike's Peak event, the 92nd running of the race — a 12.4-mile course encompassing more than 8,000 feet of elevation change — is scheduled for June 29.

In road-racing, Hankook returns for a second year as the exclusive race tire supplier for the PanAm GP Series for single-seat, open-wheel cars competing at tracks throughout the Americas, including at least one set of races in the U.S., at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The PanAm GP Series uses Formula Abarth chassis powered by 4-cylinder Fiat engines and running on Hankook Ventus F200 race tires. The series is promoting 24 races over 12 weekends this year but has yet to publish a final schedule.

The PanAm GP Series also runs a Florida Winter Series, supported by the Ferrari Driver Academy, for drivers to get pre-season training.

The series is supported by Italy's Fiat S.p.A.'s Abarth performance business unit.

Perhaps Hankook's highest profile motorsports engagement this year will be in Formula Drift, where it's an official sponsor and the series' defending tire brand champion.

It will support five drivers/teams this year: Chris Forsberg, CFR Champion Nissan 370Z; Fredric Aasbo, Papadakis Racing Speed Hunters Scion tC; Tyler McQuarrie, Mobil1 GoPro Chevrolet Camaro; Ken Gushi, Greddy Performance Scion FR-S; and Conrad Grunewald, CGR Megan Racing Chevrolet Camaro.

The Formula Drift drivers will compete on Hankook's Ventus R-S3 Extreme Performance Summer tire.

Hankook also will sponsor a number of drivers in off-road events, including Sean Geiser in a single-seat buggy in the TORC Series, running on Dynapro MT tires.

Other engagements include the Intercontinental Trophy Cup series, a National Auto Sport Association (NASA) series for Porsche Caymans that will use Ventus Z214 race tires, and contingency program benefits for competitors in Sports Car Club of America's National Solo, ProSolo and Club Racing events, NASA regional and national races and Time Attack races.