FUJI, Japan — Seeking to draw more attention to its efforts toward environmental stewardship, Bridgestone Corp. has struck a deal to become the title partner of the FIA ecoRally Cup, which highlights competitions featuring electric vehicles.
The ecoRally Cup, created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 2006, is devoted to electric vehicles running in events that use public roads, such as road rallies or hill climbs, where competitors drive registered, road-going production vehicles with an electric drivetrain.
Bridgestone's multi-year support will boost the public perception of the ecoRally Cup, which aims to address major environmental concerns such as energy saving and also foster positive behaviors of motor sport competitors. The ecoRally Cup operates predominantly in Europe.
Event winters are determined by calculating which drivers reach the closest value to the defined average speed with the most efficient energy consumption.
Tomoyuki Takagi, Bridgestone's executive director of global marketing strategy, said the partnership aligns with the Bridgestone E8 Commitment, a corporate initiative designed to accelerate the firm's transformation to a sustainable solutions company.
"We aim to inspire excitement and spread joy to the world of mobility while striving to achieve the realization of a carbon neutral mobility society with our technologies and initiatives like the FIA ecoRally Cup," he said.
Financial terms were not disclosed. There is no prize fund associated with the sponsorship deal.
Andrew Wheatley, director of FIA Rally Department, said the partnership with Bridgestone "will enable the event to reach new audiences through geographical expansion and raise the sustainability profile of the competition. Energy saving and responsible motor sport and mobility are central to the sustainability aims of the FIA."