March 2, 2006
BFGoodrich® Tires Claims Its First WRC Victory in Monte Carlo
GREENVILLE, S.C

After years of chasing after his first-ever asphalt win, the two-time world champion Marcus Grönholm finally succeeded in achieving that feat on probably the most complex sealed surface round of them all, the legendry Monte Carlo Rally. The two-time world champion finished clear of the triple Monte winner Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich®) and fellow Finland driver Toni Gardemeister (Peugeot/BFGoodrich) who was once again a strong contender in the Alps of southern France.

The 2006 Monte Carlo Rally was marked by extremely taxing conditions which constantly switched from dry to wet and frequent patches of ice, with some snowy portions. Tire choices, which were made at service in Monaco for groups of three stages at a time, were consequently both difficult to call and decisive. Subaru's Petter Solberg lost all hope of victory; for example, when he made a poor choice for Friday's opening group of stages before being sidelined for good by engine trouble at the end of leg one.

The same group of stages saw Sébastien Loeb (Citroën/BFGoodrich) make a judicious tire choice (half-studded g-Force Winters). The Frenchman then went on to build up a gap of 1m 16s over his closest chaser, but was then caught out by one of the event's countless hazards on SS6. He resumed leg two in eighth position and eventually fought back to collect second place at the finish thanks in part to a series of six consecutive fastest times.

Marcus Grönholm (Ford BP WRT/BFGoodrich):
"This has been the toughest Monte Carlo Rally I have done, but I don't think we were ever wide of the mark when it came to tire choice. Perhaps on the first day I could have opted for half-studded 'Winters,' but that's easy to say afterwards. It was tight all the way to the finish because we had to start the last stage with a flat tire. Thankfully, the run-flat mousse worked perfectly. I am very happy for the Ford team and for BFGoodrich who gave me a very competitive package for this rally."

Aimé Chatard (BFGoodrich Rallies Program Manager):
"I would put this event in the 'very difficult' category. The conditions were delicate from start to finish. Despite Grönholm's handsome cushion, the leader board could have been turned on its head because of the tough tire choice drivers had to make for the final loop. Manfred Stohl's time shows that the g-Force Profiler 0 was the right choice."

Tires Used
g-Force Winter: specifically developed for the Monte Carlo Rally. Features a siped tread pattern and modular studding (0, 1 or 2 rows of studs according to conditions). This tire was used by Loeb on Friday morning and by the majority of BFGoodrich runners (half-studded option) on Sunday.

g-Force Profiler Dry: for dry asphalt, its tread pattern can be re-cut in case of damp conditions. It is also available in a choice of compounds (very soft, soft and medium). This was the tire chosen by the majority of BFGoodrich runners for leg two and by Stohl (soft compound) for the last part of the rally.

BFGoodrich Tires News
Col du Turini (31 km) / Loeb: a time of 24 minutes. BFGoodrich's ice-note crew: 1 hour! A big bravo to BFGoodrich Tires' two ice-note crews who noted the 366km of stages in minute detail in what proved to be extremely delicate conditions. For the first time, a new computerized system was used to transmit the data they collected from the stages to the firm's technicians back at service.

-3°C to +3°C
It's in this range of ground temperatures that tire choice is the most delicate. Any colder, and the g-Force Winter tire stands out as the obvious choice. Any warmer and the g-Force Profiler Dry tends to take over. However, the three days of competition basically took place in this difficult range of temperatures.

100 times longer
It is estimated that the time spent preparing the Monte Carlo Rally represented a hundred times the total time spent on the stages by the winner, which in this case is more than 400 hours. This includes preparation of the individual tire loads, loading the trucks (2,000 tires), fitting the tires to the rims, the work of the ice-note crews, etc.

Coming next
For the Swedish Rally, BFGoodrich's partner teams will use the g-Force Ice (380 studs per tire) which was tested in December. Meanwhile, the BFGoodrich containers loaded with g-Force Gravel tires for Mexico have already set sail.

Next round: Swedish Rally (February 3-5)
BFGoodrich® Tires combines technological expertise with vast motorsports experience, delivering a high-performance tire for every type of vehicle from ultra-high performance tuner vehicles, sports cars and SUVs to the hottest sport trucks, pickups and rock-crawling rigs in the world. For more than 30 years, BFGoodrich Tires has used motorsports as a proving ground.

Success on the street begins with winning on the track and BFGoodrich Tires is involved in every type of racing, including oval, sports car, drag, desert, rally (Dakar and WRC) and extreme rock-crawling. With 20 consecutive Baja 1000 wins, the most wins in rock-crawling history, and an unmatched record on pavement, BFGoodrich Tires has proven the only records it breaks are its own. Visit BFGoodrich Tires online at www.bfgoodrichtires.com.