Hankook race report

Hankook's Racing Team Achieves Phenomenal 2nd Place at 24 Hours of Le Mans

Wayne, N.J., June 14, 2010 -- The Hankook-Farnbacher Racing Team locked up a podium finish in the GT2 class in its sophomore run at this weekend's 78th running of the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's most prestigious 24-hour endurance race held at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, France.

Drivers Dominik Farnbacher of Germany, Allan Simonsen of Denmark and Lehman Keen of the United States drove their Ferrari F430 GTC to a second place class finish in the highly competitive GT2 category. The success comes on the heels of an overall second place finish and class victory last month at the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in Germany.

"This is another thrilling motorsports achievement for Hankook Tire," said Bill Bainbridge, director of brand communications for Hankook Tire America Corp. "To climb onto the podium in just our second outing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans against an impressive competitive set in the GT2 class is a thrilling achievement. We've invested a great deal into our motorsports programs as we look to grow our brand recognition and market share in the U.S., and globally, so this is quite a cap to the that effort."

The Hankook-Farnbacher Ferrari F430 GTC was equipped with Hankook Ventus F200 slicks. The team chose from various tread compounds designed for each axle position and for the varying track conditions encountered while racing during the day and throughout the night. To maximize the car's balance with the tire performance, the front tires had a softer compound than the rear tires. Tire partner Hankook Tire provided the team with about 400 tires at the track.

"We are pleased to promote Hankook Tire's R&D prowess and advanced technologies as demonstrated by the great performance at this top-class motorsports event," said Se Heon Kim, Vice President of Hankook Tire's Brand Department. "We will continue to invest in motorsports and pull in efforts for technology innovation to develop tires that meet the demand of motorsports fans and as well as our 60 billon customers worldwide."

In recent years, Hankook Tire has expanded its investment in motorsports and has taken part in a number of renowned motorsports events. Recently, Hankook-KTR Team accomplished a pole-to-win with the Porsche GT3 RSR model at Japan's Super GT and sponsored Germany's VLN series in 2009. In March, the Hankook Tire-sponsored racing team, Sierra Sierra Enterprises, had an overall win and set a new track record at Buttonwillow Raceway during the season-opener Redline Time Attack event.

In the United States, Hankook is offering amateur and professional racing enthusiasts the chance to earn dollars off Hankook's Ventus R-S3 or Ventus Z214 DOT R-compound tires based on their performance in specific racing series. Racers have an opportunity to earn incentives during each individual competition event. Interested competitors can learn more about this grassroots motorsports program at Hankooktireusa.com or contact Hankook directly at Motorsports@hankooktireusa.com.

-source: hankook