The announcement comes off the back of Avon’s performance in the Spa round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship in June, when the British competitors raced alongside the Belcar series which also runs to GT3 specifications but uses a different manufacturer’s tyre. There, Peter Kox set the outright fastest lap in an Avon-shod Lamborghini Gallardo, with all the Avon runners putting in consistently fast times.
The event was the first time Avon rubber had been directly compared with rivals since the company created its new-for-2010 ‘cleaner oils’ GT tyre, through which the company introduced performance improvements with the more environmentally-friendly product.
Ricki Martino, Team Manager at Trackspeed, said of the decision:
“We’ve had a pretty good record with Avon in the past. We did most of the development work in 2005 before Avon became the sole supplier to the British GT Championship. We won our class in the Vallelunga six hours with Avon that year, and in 2006, we finished first and second in the Cup Class of the British Championship with the Avon tyre. So from a team's perspective it makes sense to work with a company that is as passionate as we are to get results, so we had a chat with Brian (Davies, Sales Manager at Avon Motorsport) and Mike (Lynch, Technical Manager at Avon Motorsport) earlier in the year to see if they were interested and they were. “We ran Avons in the two-and-a-half-hour race at Spa last month and were happy with the tyres and the way they compared with the Belcar runners, so we were keen to use them for the 24 hour race there as well. Our aim is to finish on the podium and with David and the professional drivers we’re lining up to race alongside him, we’re confident we can achieve that.”
Avon Motorsport’s Brian Davies, said of the performance of the Avons:
“In the British rounds at Spa, the cars were lapping up to four seconds a lap faster than in 2009, over a two-and-a-half-minute lap. There have been improvements to the cars as well as our tyres so we can’t take the credit for the whole difference, but setting times that are comparable with the Belcar entrants was something we can be proud of. We’re naturally very happy that the guys at Trackspeed have decided to use Avons for the 24 Hour race and are hopeful that others will follow their lead.”
The Spa race was run with a staggered start so, while cars were competing at the same time, the Belgian competitors started further ahead on track, with a gap between them and the British championship contenders. The best non-Avon car ran a 2m25.988-second lap, while the best Avon lap was a 2m25.863 seconds.
