US motor racing series IndyCar has extended its long-running association with Firestone by retaining the Bridgestone-owned brand as its Official Tyre Partner for a further five years.
Under the deal, Firestone will remain the exclusive tyre to IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500 race through to the end of 2025. It will produce and deliver more than 26,000 Firehawk race tyres to teams this season, including more than 6,000 tyres for track activities related to the Indy 500.
“Champions have relied on Firestone tyres for more than a century, and racing has always been the ideal proving ground for new technologies that help us evolve and advance our company’s passenger tyre offerings,” Philip Dobbs, chief marketing officer for tyre operations at Bridgestone Americas, said.
Firestone is also title sponsor of two events on the 2019 schedule, the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 10 and season-ending Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca on September 22.
The deal comes just weeks after IndyCar signed a multi-year partnership with Japanese technology company NTT to become its new title sponsor, following the end of a contract with Verizon.