Kumho hosts 400 guests and supplies 800 tyres for F3 Masters

Kumho hosted some 400 European tyre dealers from 16 countries at last month’s (August) blue riband Formula 3 race meeting at Zolder, Belgium - the ‘Zandvoort Masters of F3’.

Kumho has been the official tyre supplier to the Masters event since 2002 and is contracted to remain so until at least 2011. The company has already witnessed some very talented winners of the meeting – not least the current leader of the 2007 F1 Championship, Lewis Hamilton. As an acknowledged stepping stone to F1, the Masters has played host to many other Grand Prix aces in its time, including: David Coulthard, Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Ralph Schumacher, Mark Webber and Takuma Sato.

In excess of 800 Kumho ECSTA wet and dry tyres were specially manufactured for the 2007 event, where they were fitted by a 13-strong team of highly trained Kumho technicians. These tyres were developed and tested at the Kumho Research and Development Centre in Birmingham, England and manufactured on a dedicated production line at the company’s plant in Gwangju, Korea.

Kumho Motorsport, based in Bridgnorth England, is responsible for all the company’s European motorsport activities, including F3, rallying, rallycross and international sports car racing. 2007 successes to date have included winning the LMP2 class at Le Mans.

This year’s ‘Masters of F3’ event was won by Nico Hulkenberg of Germany from Yann Clairay of France. A total of 36 drivers competed from no less than 23 countries.

Kumho’s sponsorship activities these days extend well beyond motorsport and the company recently became a ‘Platinum Partner’ of Manchester United Football Club.

For further information on Kumho and its products, log on to kumhotyre.co.uk.