Hankook is considering the possibility of developing a bespoke tyre specifically for the Acropolis Rally Greece after the event's extreme conditions once again put tyres under enormous stress and played a decisive role in the outcome of the latest FIA World Rally Championship round.
The Korean manufacturer arrived in Greece with an updated hard compound following criticism over the durability of its gravel tyre at Rally Portugal. By increasing the tread thickness, Hankook managed to reduce the delamination issues that had affected previous events, and teams acknowledged the improvements made ahead of the Acropolis Rally. However, punctures remained a major talking point throughout the weekend. Only rally winner Sébastien Ogier and M-Sport Ford's Josh McErlean completed the event without suffering a puncture, highlighting just how demanding the rough Greek stages proved to be.
"I think it is worth looking at absolutely", a Hankook representative said.
"Everything has implications of course and I don’t just mean from my side.
"For sure it is something that can be considered and it has been raised a few times.
"As it has been raised by important people, it is worth thinking about.
"It is ton of work, of course, but that is what we do.
"So, if that is something that we feel is important for the sport and if there is broad support for it, then it is something we can consider.
"For us, it is mixed feelings as we made such big effort to make improvements to come here and as we have heard from pretty much everyone involved, all the stakeholders have acknowledged that the tyres have made a good step forward.
"This is positive.
"But, of course, every time there is a tyre-related issue we have to do a close analysis to try to understand how much of that is just Acropolis and where are the areas we can focus next to keep it moving forward so that is a little bit of work for us to do after the event".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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