What a magnificent premiere for Hankook and the Formula E World Championship in the land of the rising sun. Glorious sunshine, packed grandstands and a thrilling race with many changes of position and a feast of action both on and off the track made the Tokyo E-Prix an acclaimed motorsport festival. The overjoyed winner at the narrow, 2.585-kilometre street circuit around the biggest exhibition site in Japan, “Tokyo Big Sight”, was 26-year-old Maximilian Günther from Germany. Success in race five of the season was victory number five in the fully-electric series for the driver from the Maserati MSG Racing team. The Briton Oliver Rowland crossed the finish line in second place for the Nissan Formula E Team. He was followed in third place by his compatriot Jake Dennis (Andretti Formula E). German Pascal Wehrlein from the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team leads the overall standings after five of 16 races.
The Formula E caravan was greeted by heavy rainfall and strong wind in Tokyo on Friday morning. However, the clouds cleared and the temperature rose in time for the Shakedown and the first outing for the Hankook iON Race. In perfect dry conditions, the exclusive tyre of the Formula E World Championship impressed from the outset with its now familiar qualities: consistency, a high level of grip and outstanding performance for all 22 drivers.
Thomas Baltes, Hankook Formula E race engineer: “It is always rather special to race at a circuit, with which you are not familiar – especially when it is a street circuit. Will there be different types of asphalt, are the surfaces different, how much grip will they offer? As well as the weather, all of these factors can have a big influence on the performance of the tyre. However, since its Formula E debut in Mexico over a year ago, the Hankook iON Race has shown that it performs superbly on the most diverse range of surfaces and in various ambient conditions. That was once again the case on its first appearance in Japan. The drivers and teams put their faith in the Hankook iON Race when pulling off their manoeuvres, and they know nowadays exactly how to get the tyre up to the optimal working temperature. The tyre delivers a predictably high grip level and a lot of consistency on the track.”
Even the winner of the Tokyo race, Maximilian Günther, was also impressed by the performance of the Hankook iON Race after the Japanese premiere: “The tyre really performs at an extremely high level everywhere and has hardly any weaknesses. It is good to know, particularly at a knew and unfamiliar circuit, that we drivers can rely on the quality of the tyre and focus fully on our performance on the track.”
