LOS ANGELES – Aug. 2, 2010 – Extreme grip, acceleration and toughness once again reigned supreme as BFGoodrich® Tires shattered records at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this past weekend at X Games 16.  Competitors running BFGoodrich tires swept the podiums of both rally disciplines, Rally Car and SuperRally, winning six of seven medals, including both gold medals.  Since Rally Car started as an X Games contest five years ago, competitors running BFGoodrich tires have won 17 of 20 podium spots.

“During tire testing, racers said they wanted grip for the elevation changes, acceleration for the straightaways and a tire tough enough to land 70-foot jumps,” said Roberts Kukainis, motorsports manager, BFGoodrich Tires.  “In both Rally and SuperRally, the BFGoodrich g-Force™ Rally tires met our expectations by dominating the podium.  The podiums reaffirm that BFGoodrich tires are the number one choice of Rally champions.  Congratulations to all of the drivers and teams for delivering two of the most exciting races in X Games history.”

The challenge for both the competitors and BFGoodrich Tires’ staff was the unknown track surface, so the company tested more than 10 different tires as varied as aggressive gravel through near-slick road-racing.  By race time, most teams settled on BFGoodrich g-Force Rally gravel-oriented tires, to great success.

Rally Car, 3 of 4 medals won on BFGoodrich tires
First up was Rally Car racing, a two-car-per round event, which featured some of the biggest names in X Games Rally Car racing.  Kenny Brack (Ford/BFGoodrich), Travis Pastrana (Subaru/BFGoodrich) and Tanner Foust (Ford/BFGoodrich) prequalified directly to the Quarterfinals due to their impressive medal performances at X Games 15.  First round saw Dave Mirra (Subaru/BFGoodrich) advance, as well as Brian Deegan (Ford/BFGoodrich), and Andrew “ACP” Comrie-Picard (Mitsubishi/BFGoodrich). 

The Ford Fiestas equipped with BFGoodrich g-Force Rally tires continued to make noise in rounds two and three while ACP in his Mitsubishi Evo, also on BFGoodrich g-Force Rally tires, quietly continued to advance.  Foust and Deegan battled their way to the X Games Rally Car finals where Foust jumped to an early lead.  The 70-foot jump turned out to be the deciding factor of the finals.  Foust nailed the jump, but Deegan was not as fortunate.  A tight turn leading up to the leap gave Deegan some trouble and did not give him enough time to set up for the launch ramp, allowing Foust to claim the X Games Rally Car gold.  ACP and Antoine L’Estage both earned the bronze medal.

SuperRally, a BFGoodrich Tires podium sweep
In what turned out to be an unbelievable night of high-flying, door-to-door rally racing, X Games SuperRally had fans on their feet, screaming for more.  SuperRally kicked off with 12 of rally racing’s elite drivers including Foust, ACP and Mirra competing in a high-speed time trial to determine the starting grid in the three-heat, four-car, four-lap elimination heat races. 

Competition raged on through four Elimination races, resulting in the first ever SuperRally final, which included TeamBFG member and two-time Formula Drift Champion Samuel Hubinette (Mitsubishi/BFGoodrich), Foust, Deegan and Formula Drift competitor Stephan Verdier.  The final five-lap battle saw Foust and Deegan accelerating quickly off the start line with the help of their BFGoodrich tires, battling for the ever-important lead position around turn one.  Foust came out of the first tunnel ahead of Deegan and never looked back during the race as fans screamed for their favorites until the last seconds of the race battle.  Foust secured the first X Games SuperRally gold medal while Deegan earned silver. 

Hubinette, who had minimal seat time in ACP Racing’s Mitsubishi Evo 10 prior to the competition, fought hard throughout the competition and slid his way into third place securing the X Games SuperRally bronze medal.   In a post race press conference, Hubinette explained how his bronze medal SuperRally performance showed that he not only is an elite Formula Drift competitor, but an all-around talented driver.  “For me it was good to show that I’m not just throwing the car sideways in Formula D,” explained Hubinette.  “It feels really good -- it’s not a fully SuperRally spec car, it’s a rally car from ACP Racing that he’s (ACP) been using over in Canada.  It’ll give hope to other people that you can do well (in SuperRally) without a fully prepped (SuperRally) car.  And thanks to BFGoodrich Tires I had the traction.”

BFGoodrich Tires will look to expand its grip on rally car podiums in the upcoming RallyCar Rallycross series, which will have a very similar format to X Games SuperRally, with four cars racing simultaneously.  The series debuts at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Aug. 27, 2010.

Using motorsports as a proving ground for more than 35 years, BFGoodrich® Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drifting, drag, desert, dirt, rally and extreme rock crawling.  BFGoodrich Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle.  Visit BFGoodrich Tires at http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/. 

BFGoodrich Tires’ enthusiasm has extended on-line as well, with a gathering place for auto enthusiasts to celebrate the thrill of GO through Nation of GO, where people with a passion for driving can celebrate and share what they love to do best at http://www.nationofgo.com/.