Press Release

  • Motorsport

Full speed ahead for women in motorsport: Hankook is official tyre partner of the new W Series

Hankook is kicking off the 2019 motorsport season with another partnership. As the new partner of the W Series, Hankook will provide the series with its high-end racing tyre, the Ventus Race (F200 slick and Z217 wet), in sizes FA 230/560-13 and RA 280/580-13. With the new single-seater series, the organisers and Hankook are campaigning for female racing drivers, who are featuring more and more in the world of motorsport, but are still very much in the minority compared to their male counterparts.
Full speed ahead for women in motorsport: Hankook is official tyre partner of the new W Series

Neu-Isenburg/Germany, 14th January 2019 – The W Series will share the bill with the DTM, which Hankook has been providing with its premium tyres as exclusive partner since 2011, on six race weekends in 2019. Hockenheim will host the inaugural round of the all-woman Formula series on 4th/5th May, while the finale takes place at Brands Hatch on 10th/11th August. The overall prize purse is 1.5 million dollars, with the winner picking up a cheque for 500,000 dollars.

Over 100 female drivers from 30 countries applied for a seat in one of the 270-PS Tatuus T-318 Formula 3 cars, with 60 women progressing to qualifying. The final decision as to who would occupy the 18 coveted starting places was made by a jury of experts, including former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard.

The select few will now undergo extensive training courses, tough fitness tests and a lot of driver training, to ensure that they are ideally prepared for the start of the W Series in Hockenheim. As all the cars are identical, tyre management will be particularly important, as even minor changes to tyre pressure can have a big effect out on the track. As such, Hankook’s Ventus Race tyre, with its extreme consistency and high grip level, is the ideal partner for the young drivers.

Manfred Sandbichler, Hankook Motorsport Director Europe: “We are very enthusiastic about this new partnership with W Series and are looking forward to supporting this fascinating new race format to the best of our ability with the Ventus Race [tyre] and our know-how. One major reason for our involvement is the fact that W Series is exclusively for women. This is great, as it allows female drivers to develop in a professional environment within the motorsport scene, which is still male-dominated. However, we are not just thinking about the women in the cockpit, but also want to ensure that female mechanics, engineers and team managers get more opportunities in motorsport too.”

Catherine Bond Muir, Chief Executive Officer W Series: “Hankook is an exciting and innovative company, which, like the W Series, is always prepared to strike out in a new direction. For this reason, we are happy to have a partner like this on our side. We received a lot of interesting offers, but Hankook had by far the best overall package and will be fully committed to helping us offer women better opportunities in motorsport.”

Dave Ryan, Racing Director W Series “Hankook has an impressive global presence in motorsport and is the tyre partner of many racing series around the world, whether in touring cars, single-seaters, endurance racing or rallying. Furthermore, Hankook has been exclusive partner of the DTM, with which the W Series will share the bill, since 2011. Its high-tech products, know-how and global involvement in motorsport make Hankook the perfect partner for us. It will provide optimal support for the W Series, not only with its race tyres, but also its engineers and mechanics.”

Hankook Tire manufactures globally innovative, award-winning radial tyres of proven superior quality for passenger cars, light trucks, SUVs, RVs, trucks, and buses as well as motorsports (circuit racing/street circuits/rallies).

Aspiring to bring consumers the utmost excellence in product quality, technological excellence and driving satisfaction, Hankook Tire continuously invests in research and development maintaining five R&D centres and eight production facilities around the world. Bespoke tyre solutions for the European markets as well as European Original Equipment according to the requirements of leading premium car manufacturers, are developed in the company’s regional Technical Centre in Hanover/Germany. Production for the European region is taking place in the state-of-the-art manufacturing site in Rácalmás/Hungary which was inaugurated in June 2007 and is continuously being expanded.

Hankook Tire’s European headquarters are located in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The manufacturer operates further branches in several European countries and sells its products through regional distributors in other local markets. Hankook Tire employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide and sells products in over 160 countries. The company has been the technical partner and exclusive tyre supplier of the Generation 3 for the FIA ABB Formula E World Championship since 2023. Internationally leading car manufacturers rely on tyres made by Hankook for their original equipment. Approximately 38 percent of the company's global sales are generated within the European region.

For more information please visit www.hankooktire-mediacenter.com or www.hankooktire.com

Hankook Tire Europe GmbH | Marketing Communications Europe | Siemensstr. 14, 63263 Neu-Isenburg | Germany

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Full speed ahead for women in motorsport: Hankook is official tyre partner of the new W Series

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Sabine Riedel

PR Manager Marketing Communications

 +49 (0) 6102 8149-178

Sabine Riedel

PR Manager Marketing Communications

 +49 (0) 6102 8149-178

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