Bridgestone to promote FIA ecoRally Cup

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."

Bridgestone said the initiative will provide it an opportunity to further promote its "Enliten" product range, which incorporates multiple technologies designed to provide enhanced performance and improved sustainability characteristics, while ensuring that Bridgestone tires are EV ready.

Additionally, Bridgestone said its involvement will lead to more engagement from FIA member clubs, a commitment of the brand to international motor sports and a focus on road-safety initiatives.

The unveiling of Bridgestone's partnership with the FIA ecoRally Cup coincides with Japanese company's marking its 60th anniversary of motorsports involvement and its earning a Three Star Environmental Accreditation by the FIA.

Globally, Bridgestone has scaled back its motorsports engagement from its heights in the late 1990s through the early 2000s. In 2023, its primary car-racing engagements are in Japan's Super GT high-performance GT championship (Bridgestone brand) and in North American in the NTT IndyCar Series and NXT Series with its Firestone brand.

The FIA Environmental Accreditation is a program aimed to help motor sport and mobility stakeholders worldwide to measure and enhance their environmental performance. In awarding Bridgestone a three-start accreditation, the FIA noted the company "demonstrates best practice and commitment to seek continual improvement through the implementation of an environmental management system."