A long-term partner for a new challenge: Bridgestone Potenza tyres will provide the optimum performance when the Volkswagen ID. R aims to beat the lap record for electro-vehicles on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in summer 2019. Having worked together for a long-time creating equipment for production vehicles, the German automotive brand and the largest tyre manufacturer in the world will now expand their partnership into the world of motorsport. The ID. R is the racing forerunner to the new ID. product family – Volkswagen’s wide range of purely electric vehicles to be launched from 2020.
“We are really looking forward to working together with Bridgestone in motorsport for the first time,” says Sven Smeets, Volkswagen Motorsport Director. “In attempting to crack the e-record on the Nordschleife, we want to underline the enormous performance potential of electric drive,” explains Smeets. Volkswagen has already set a new all-time record in with the ID. R at the famous hill-climb at Pikes Peak (USA) in 2018.
At the moment, Bridgestone and Volkswagen already enjoy a partnership in the manufacture and development of original equipment for production vehicles. “Both brands have a real focus on future technology and innovation,” says Mark Tejedor, Vice President Original Equipment at Bridgestone EMEA. “We have utilised our expertise in motorsport and electro-mobility to develop Potenza sports tyres that are specially adapted to the demands of an electric race car. The tyres deliver the confidence and the performance to help Volkswagen Motorsport break new lap time records.”
Current record: under seven minutes over nearly 21 kilometres
At 20.832 kilometres, 73 corners and an elevation change between the highest and lowest sectors of around 300 meters, the Nordschleife at the Nürburgring is one of the most challenging racetracks in the world, with former Formula 1 world champion Jackie Stewart coining the track in the Eifel “Green Hell” in 1927. The current lap record for a purely electric-powered vehicle stands at 6m 45.900s, held by Briton Peter Dumbreck (NIO EP9).
SOURCE: Bridgestone
