Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. has been expanding its presence in automotive racing the past few years as it attempts to put more focus on its passenger car tyres, particularly the high-performance models.
This weekend, Cooper is signed on as the official tyre of the Honda Indy Toronto, a three-day racing event that culminates today with the Verizon IndyCar Series race.
“One of the things we’re trying to do is really build our brand image in Canada,” said Mike Simon, the company’s vice president of marketing.
“We’ve been in Canada for a number of years, but we’ve not been making the investment in Canada around our brand.”
Cooper has been involved in open-wheel racing since 2006, when it began supplying tyres for the USF2000 series. The circuit — officially called the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda — is sanctioned by IndyCar and the first stop on the road to the IndyCar series.
Cooper added the Pro Mazda Championship series in 2013 and the Indy Lights series last year. The Indy Lights are the step below the IndyCar Series. All three series compete at tracks in the United States and Canada.
The Findlay firm is the sole supplier of tyres for those three racing circuits, which serve as a sort of minor league development system for the main IndyCar series. The company makes its open-wheel racing tyres at its plant in Melksham, England.
Cooper officials say it gets a lot of traction out of its racing tyres among fans.
“They understand if a company has the capability to do that, they definitely have the ability and desire to produce the same level of tyre for the street vehicle,” Mr. Simon said.
And because racing fans often have their own sports cars, they are a good customer to grab. Mr. Simon said the racing sponsorship help build Cooper’s brand recognition for sports and passenger cars, which has lagged behind its reputation for truck tyres.
“We produce high value tyres for every segment in the marketplace. It’s true that we have better brand recognition in the light truck space. What we want to do is drive that same recognition in passenger car,” Mr. Simon said.
Beyond the track, Chris Pantani, Cooper’s head of event marketing and motorsports, said the sponsorship deals give the firm a lot of television exposure.
“Motosports is growing, and you’re seeing more of it,” he said.
Cooper also sponsors a sports-car racing series and is a top tyre choice for TORC: the Off-Road Championship Presented by AMSOIL, a short-course, off-road truck racing series, which runs in a number of large U.S. markets.
For that series, racers use the same street-legal tyres Cooper sells through its dealers.
Outside the United States, Cooper is the official tyre supplier for the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Events are in a several countries, including German, France, Portugal, Turkey, and Norway. – Toledoblade.com