Michelin's new Latitude Cross tyre has been praised following its debut on Rally Guanajuato Mexico earlier this month.
Sebastien Loeb, who took his Citroen DS3 WRC to victory on the world championship round, said he was pleased with the performance of his tyres on the mainly gravel event, which is known for its punishing stages.
“My Michelin tyres performed very well and were fast and reliable,” said Loeb. “Along with the excellent performance of the new Citroen DS3 WRC, their competitiveness enabled me to post even faster times than last year on certain stages.”
After his Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team extended its lead at the top of the manufacturers’ championship with second and third places in Mexico, team boss Malcolm Wilson said: “We showed again that our new Ford Fiesta RS WRC is competitive. Our Michelin tyres contributed to that performance.”
The Latitude Cross tyre is the result of an intensive research and development programme conducted by Michelin. The French firm plans to use knowledge and data accumulated in Mexico for the next evolution of its WRC tyre range.
Michelin had 1000 of its Latitude Cross tyre available in hard compound only in Mexico. Director of Michelin Competition, Nick Shorrock, said: “First of all, I would like to congratulate our partners Citroen and Ford for the great show they put on. The 2011 WRC campaign is [in] its early stages, but they have provided further evidence of their knowhow by developing new cars that are both competitive and reliable out of the box. Meanwhile, the speed and reliability of the latest Michelin Latitude Cross tyre proved a perfect match for the exacting conditions, and it is exactly this balance between these two factors that we have been focusing on since the new tyre was originally designed in the middle of 2010.”
He added: “Michelin’s new range of WRC tyres matches the demands of our partners whose smaller, lighter cars call for different driving styles. Our tyres also comply with the championship’s latest 2011 regulations which permit open competition between tyre companies.”
Credit: World Rally Championship (www.wrc.com)
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