THE MASTERS COMES OF AGE

 

British Kumho retailers defy the elements and enjoy an eventful visit to Europe’s top Formula 3 race.

 

Kumho Tyres has implemented various marketing activities in an attempt to dominate the market in China, which is fast rising to be the biggest country in terms of automobile ownership. The activities include expert forums, cooperation between industry and academia, advertising campaigns, consumer events and more. At the frontline of successful marketing activities, Kumho Tires has also contributed toward developing motor sports in China through its sponsorship of the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC) following CRC and CFGP. 18 KUMHO TYRE 2012 KUMHO TYRE 2012 19 Since its first year as Official Tyre Supplier to the event in 2002, Kumho has witnessed a parade of talented young drivers contest the blue riband race and apart from past winners Lewis Hamilton (2005) and Paul di Resta (2006) no less than nine other current F1 pilots were Masters ‘graduates’ on Kumho tyres. Picking the stars of tomorrow from this year’s crop was no easy task with drivers from eleven countries vying for the Masters crown.

Emerging as pole sitter after Saturday’s rain affected practice and qualifying sessions was Daniel Juncadella, a thwarted veteran of last year’s event, with fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jnr alongside him on the front row. There was to be no repeat of Juncadella’s 2011 startline mishap this time though and his lead into the first corner was never threatened throughout the race as Sainz lost ground to both Juncadella’s Prema Powerteam mate Raffaele Marciello and Dutchman Hannes van Asseldonk. Juncadella eventually took the flag with a cushion of over seven seconds. Afterwards Juncadella said his Masters victory outranked his Macau Grand Prix triumph of 2011 due to the heartbreak he suffered in last year’s race: “For me, this victory is even more special (than his Macau win) because of what happened last year. Then I had a chance too, but now I have finally done it,” he said. Over 800 ECSTA F3 dry and wet weather tyres are specially made each year at Kumho’s factory in Gwang Ju and brought to Zandvoort race circuit for Europe’s most prestigious Formula Three event. These are fitted at the Kumho Motorsport service area in the paddock by a team of experienced technicians and engineers. Each car can use up to three sets of ‘slicks’ or dry weather tyres during the event for all qualifying sessions and the race and all teams have a further three sets of ‘wets’ available should the officials declare a wet practice or race. On hand to do some star spotting were some top retailers from Kumho’s ECSTA Performance Centre (EPC) network of independent tyre outlets which it operates in the UK together with national distributor Micheldever Tyre Services. The British group, which numbered over 80 including wives and partners, had qualified for the trip in a six month promotion run throughout the network. Staying at the five-star Huis Ter Duin hotel along the coast at Noordwijk, Kumho’s guests spent Saturday enjoying a canal tour of Amsterdam, browsing the shops and galleries in the famous city centre and letting their hair down at an evening barbeque at a beach restaurant. Undeterred by the torrential rain and high winds which lashed Holland’s North Sea coast on raceday morning, the intrepid Brits headed for the circuit where they were entertained in style in Zandvoort’s premier hospitality suite overlooking the pitlane and the start/finish straight. Young guns Juncadella and Sainz were in attendance to answer questions and sign autographs and a visit to the starting grid was a fitting prelude to the race action itself. Despite the weather, the trip went down a storm with Kumho’s guests, as this note testifies: “I just wanted to thank you for the fantastic time we had in Zandvoort. The racing venue was one of the best we have seen.

The food and organisation was magnificent. Please send our thanks to everyone who was involved in the event, we really appreciate the time and effort they put in to make all us have a truly wonderful time. I hope our sales will go from strength to strength.“ British Kumho retailers defy the elements and enjoy an eventful visit to Europe’s top Formula 3 race. Without doubt, the annual Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort in The Netherlands has been a gateway to fame and fortune in Formula One for many in the 21 years since it started: David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, to name but a few, all competed at the famous Dutch circuit on their way to motorsport stardom. And for the 11th year in succession it was Kumho Tyres who supplied all the tyres to Europe’s top F3 teams and drivers to enable them to compete at this year’s RTL GP sponsored event.

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