November
23, 2003 (KUMHO Tires)
KUMHO
TIRES A WINNER WITH F3 ELITE
AT THRILLING INTERNATIONAL SEASON CLOSER
Global
9th tire maker, KUMHO Tires supplied all the runners for
the 5th International Korea F3 Super Prix and the top drivers
in Formula Three have recognised the KUMHO tire as one of
the best in international motor sport.
Winner
of the International F3 Korea Super Prix, American Richard
Antinucci spoke about the effectiveness of the KUMHO tire
throughout the practice sessions, qualifying and the two
races at the Changwon Raceway street circuit.
The
Hitech Racing driver said: "The grip from the KUMHO
has been good all weekend, and our team has found a good
set-up with the tire. I found it really important to focus
on getting a lot of heat into the rear tires on my warm-up
lap and that helped me to get a really good start on the
shadier side of the track," said Antinucci.
The
American burst into the lead at the opening corner and was
never headed again, winning both races and taking his first
victory in the Formula Three category. His win on the KUMHO
tire emphasizes the Korean manufacturers leading position
in world motorsport with its high performing ECSTA Formula
Technology tire.
In
second place on the streets of the Changwon Raceway in the
Korea F3 Super Prix was Menu Motorsport's Robert Doornbos.
The Dutchman has spent some time racing in the F3 Euroseries
this year, where all the runners use the high performance
KUMHO tire.
"I've
raced all year in the F3 Euroseries on the KUMHO tire, and
here with Menu Motorsport in Korea we've found a really
good set-up with the tire. It works really well, especially
in qualifying and we got a good peak out of the tire. Then
during the race we were able to do very consistent lap times
without any flat spots. So I was impressed with the tire,
it has a good feel," added Doornbos.
Formula
Three is a highly technical sport and KUMHO's ECSTA racing
slicks have an unrivalled position as the sole tire supplier
for the 5th International F3 Korea Super Prix. Through the
use of Formula Technology, KUMHO Tires have an extremely
high level of grip and it is no surprise that KUMHO Tires
is rated 9th in the '2002 Global Tire Company Rankings'
by the authoritative US journal, Tire Business. Many of
the world's leading Formula 3 drivers were delighted with
the performance of the tire this weekend.
Among
those future Formula One aspirants who praised the tire
was McLaren F1 team protégé Lewis Hamilton.
The Manor Motorsport ace drove in only his third Formula
3 race in Korea and was very impressed with the rubber supplied
to him by the Korean tire giant.
"I
started testing in the UK on the Avon tire and before we
came over to do this race, we tested the KUMHO tire in the
UK and I definitely felt they were much better than the
Avon tire," said Hamilton. "It's really good to
test the tires because you can feel all the different characteristics
and compounds and I've been happy with the KUMHO tire, and
I can get a good time out of them when they're at their
best."
KUMHO
Tires will continue to dedicate its efforts to develop Formula
technology and also apply it to the UHP tires which can
satisfy consumers with the proven performances. KUMHO Tires
aims to become one of the top 8 tire makers in the world
by 2007.
