“We are confident our tyres will perform in world championships”
On the sidelines of the final round of the MRF Challenge in Chennai, editor Sirish Chandran caught up with MRF tyres vice-chairman Arun Mammen
“IT LOOKS ALL BLACK ON THE OUTSIDE BUT THERE’S SO MUCH TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED REGARDING COMPOUNDS”
We decided to bid for WRC2 [tyre supplier]
"In the WRC, one or two rounds were in Sweden and Finland, and it required winter tyres. So you have a snow tyre and an ice tyre which you need to develop to be in WRC and that’s how we got into that. Today I can say we are looking at regional championships in Finland, Sweden, on snow and ice [to supply tyres]. This year we will have some cars driving in snow or ice tyres in one of the Scandinavian countries."
We will get into WRC2, if we can supply tyres to WRC2
“The tyres in the WRC2 is the control tyre. We didn’t get the bid for the WRC, it’s given to one of our competitors, because of that we can’t get into WRC. That’s the reason we are into ERC. ERC is an open championship, where all the brands are available and the drivers have a choice to drive any brand. We are entering for the first time so we have to wait and watch how it turns out to be."
“Craig Breen has tested [the tyres], he has been testing the whole of last year. We also had Mikko Hirvonen testing the tyres. Occasionally we had current WRC drivers also testing on our tyres, that’s been happening also. We are reasonably confident that our tyres will perform in world championships and I think it is exciting and it is a great entry to motorsports and into the ERC Championship.”
There are not too many OEM’s in this business
“Hyundai has been doing reasonably well in the last few years and we decided to link up with them [for the European Rally Championship]. Hyundai as such has got a very strong presence in India and in worldwide motorsports they are quite big. They are in rallying, in different categories of racing and I won’t be surprised if they would come to [compete in] India also. It’s only sooner or later when they see the Indian market, it looks sensible for them to get in.”
In Europe we do a lot of regional and national championships
“We are in Spain, Italy and some Scandinavian countries. We are looking at ERC this year. In Australia we are quite involved with national racing and the Bathurst. We are looking at something in South Africa also."
Motorsport establishes that you have a creditable product
“Motorsport is big in these countries, it is well respected, it is known, and it’s a great entry into such markets. At the end of the day when your product performs, they know you and they have trust in your product."