Kumho has air freighted more than 150 tyres to Australia for the one and only tarmac round on the Championship to ensure that all competitors are using the same type of tyre and compete on a level playing field.
According to Kumho Motor sport coordinator John Mills the company had originally nominated the Kumho V70A tarmac competition tyre for Rally Tasmania however this tyre was not suitable for the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.
"Kumho R&D engineers were not willing to sign off on the V70A for the Evo X as it required a different load rating tyre, so to ensure that every competitor could use the same tyres and be on an equal footing Kumho decided to airfreight enough CO3 tarmac competition tyres for all ARC entrants in Tassie," said John Mills.
"Potentially the load rating issue with the V70A and the Evo X would have only affected two or three competitors competing in these cars on Rally Tasmania but Kumho's role as the control tyre supplier is to ensure that everyone has the same rubber," he added.
"The load rating situation only affected the Evo X and only applies to the V70 A tarmac tyres, the R700, R800 and R900 gravel tyres we will use in the remaining five ARC rounds meet the requirements for all currently homologated cars," said John Mills.
"We sourced the CO3 tarmac rally tyres from both Korea and the UK to ensure we had sufficient stock and sizes to supply all ARC competitors," he added.
The Kumho competition tyres for the ARC will be available in a wide range of sizes from 13" all the way up to the 205/65 x 15 at cost effective prices. For example the 205/65R15 tyre will cost any rally competitor from club level to the ARC, just $231 each.
Kumho has committed its backing into the Australian Rally Championship as a whole and is by far the largest commercial commitment to the sport this year.
Drivers who have tested the new rubber have indicated the Kumho control tyres showed excellent performance characteristics.
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