PARIS—The Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA) has extended Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.'s race tire supply contract with the FIA World Rallycross Championship through 2019.
Cooper initially won the contract in 2014 for three seasons.
Rallycross is a form of circuit racing on a track with mixed surfaces, usually asphalt and gravel or sealed/unsealed surfaces. The 2016 season comprised a dozen races in 11 countries, including a stop in Canada.
The FIA said it received two offers for the contract following its tender in April, and the FIA's Off-Road Commission recommended Cooper based on its "strong technical understanding and history of rallycross tire requirements, as well as its commitment to promotion of the championship."
The FIA said it opted to go with a single tire supplier in order to reduce the cost of participation for entrants in the championship, to ensure sporting equity and safety, to guarantee the best possible product and to support the promotion of the championship.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Cooper makes the rallycross tires at its plant in Melksham, England, and provides support for the series from there as well.
World Rallycross has three championship classes—Supercar, four-wheel-drive production sedans with turbocharged 2-liter, 600-hp engines; Super1600, front-wheel drive "hot hatches" using 1.6-liter engines; and TouringCar, rear-wheel drive and 2-liter engines—and RX Lites, a spec category for identical mid-engined, four-wheel-drive racecars.
The World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy differs from the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship, the largely North American-based variant that awarded Michelin North America's BFGoodrich brand a "multi-year" contract last January.
The new partners did not disclose the length of the contract—which replaced a supply deal the series had signed with Yokohama Tire Corp. in 2014—or any financial terms.
The contract covers both the Supercar and GRC Lites classes, BFG said.