Yokohama ADVAN is delighted with the performance of its tyres in today’s warm conditions for the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s qualifying and International Formula Master racing at Oschersleben.
After a 21-lap IFM race, which saw average speeds of around 100mph, the single-seater tyres were still fit to run another round with a maximum wear of 1mm, equating to around one-quarter used.
“Oschersleben is quite easy on tyres,” said Yokohama’s Technical Consultant, Ian Beveridge. “The speed isn’t too high and the corners are kind. It’s just the nature of the circuit’s shape really.
Even taking that into consideration though, the IFM tyre still seems to have been very consistent right from the beginning. When you see them in Park Fermé, they look pretty worn because there is loads of pick-up from where the guys have cruised in slowly but underneath there’s loads of rubber left.”
Series leader, Jerome D’Ambrosio, made best use of the grip to take his third win of the season, extending his lead at the top of the table to 28 points.
In the touring cars, meanwhile, SEAT produced an unexpected result monopolising the top three qualifying slots for tomorrow’s round 15 and keeping BMW at bay in front of its home crowds. Tyre tactics played no part in the result as, according to Beveridge, there was only one tyre choice for today’s conditions: Yokohama ADVAN slicks.
Speaking about his expectations for tomorrow’s WTCC racing, SEAT Sport’s Tiago Monteiro said: “Whoever deals with the tyres best will have an advantage. With the hot weather and the twisty circuit, if you push too hard in the early part of the race you will pay for it later on.”
Tomorrow’s second IFM race starts at 10:15 with the touring cars taking to the German track at 12:05.
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