Eibach – The Will To Win

2009 Motorsport Round-Up –
Outlook for 2010

The 2009 race season has proved to be yet another great year for Eibach. At every stage of the sport, from the clubman driver right up to manufacturer and F1 level, the quality and durability of Eibach products has helped get racers onto the podium. No matter what the discipline: Circuit, Rally, Sprint or Hill-climb, both on and off road.

F1

Nearly 100% of Formula 1 teams are on Eibach springs when they use high-tensile coil springs.

WRC – Rallye-Weltmeisterschaft

On the grueling stages of the World Rally Championship (WRC), the phenomenally close battles between eventual winner Loeb and second place Eibach man, Hirvonen in his factory backed M-Sport Ford Focus, made for plenty of bitten nails in the Eibach camp all season. With Hirvonen leading for most of the latter half of the championship, it was a very close call all year. Circumstances saw Loeb take a slim win on the very last event, however.

In their first race 2010, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen catapulted car manufacturer Ford to the top of all-time wins in World Rally Championship competition with their victory in the Rally Sweden.

Their teammates Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila also landed on the podium in third place.

24-Stunden Rennen von Le Mans

In the hugely prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race in France, it was once again a case of Eibach equipped teams dominating proceedings.

Peugeot took a diesel 1-2 after an exciting race, with Audi making up the final spot on the podium. Making it a perfect finish for Eibach engineers was the fourth place (and top petrol finisher) of the Prodrive Aston Martin. 

DTM

In Germany, Eibach is the official supplier to all DTM (German Touring Masters) factory teams of Audi Sport.

As the first ever automobile manufacturer, Audi achieved a title hat-trick in the DTM ´09 series: After 2007 and 2008, the brand with the four rings captured the coveted trophy for the third consecutive time.

Audi driver Timo Scheider stayed on the heels of his only remaining rival for the title, Gary Paffett, during the entire 39 laps in the finale at the Hockenheimring and thus successfully defended his title from last year with a second-place finish.

SEAT Leon Supercopa

At the SEAT Leon Supercopa Cup, which has been staged as part of the DTM since 2004, race teams are placing their faith in Eibach motorsports technology as Eibach is the official partner of the SEAT Leon Supercopa Cup.

Thomas Marschall of Team Black Falcon was named the 2009 champion with teammate Christer Jöns finishing in second in points, also collecting Rookie of the Year honors. 

DRM

The teams in the German Rally Championship also trust in the technology made in Finnentrop.

The racing team of Hermann Gassner and his son, Hermann Gassner Jr., has been an official partner of Eibach for many years. In 2009, Hermann Gassner Jr. was nominated youngest German Rally Champion ever. At the final PWRC race in Wales, he came in with the Top 3 time.

BTCC

In the British Touring car Championship (BTCC), long-term Eibach technical partner Triple 8 Racing once again took Vauxhall to the Team and Manufacturer’s title in the Vauxhall’s last official year in the series. Narrowly missing out on the Driver’s title too, the UK-based team were quick to praise the role of chassis set-up in assisting their recurring victories in much of their press output.

V8 Supercars und Formula Ford Australia

In the Australian V8 Supercars Series, Jamie Whincup of the Vodafone Ford Team was named ’09 champion.

This year’s V8 Supercars season already started off well with Jamie already winning four out of four races, putting Eibach in a winning position.

In the Formula Ford Australia competition, Nick Percat piloted the Sonic Motor Racing entry to 12 wins on the way to his series championship.

NASCAR- und ARCA-Rennserie

Hendrick Motorsports Sprint Cup driver Jimmie Johnson picked up his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup title for the team in 2009.

Hendrick teammates Mark Martin and part owner of his team Jeff Gordon finished second and third in championship standings, respectively.

The NASCAR Nationwide Series championship chase proved to be a nail-biter right until the end. Kyle Busch collected his first title in any of NASCAR’s three major divisions with the Nationwide Series championship over second-place finisher Carl Edwards.

Eibach furthermore supports the ARCA Racing Series through an Official Products sponsorship.

Open Wheel

Target Chip Ganassi Racing collected the 1-2 sweep in the IndyCar Series championship last season.

Dario Franchitti returned to the series full time after a stint in NASCAR and drove his No. 10 Dallara chassis/Honda-powered machine to five wins and five poles and a third career IndyCar championship; his teammate Scott Dixon finished right behind him in second.

Off-Road Racing

Robby Gordon pulled double-duty in 2009 in both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition and the SCORE Off-Road Series. Gordon piloted his Chevy CK 1500 Trophy Truck to the SCORE championship; the duo of Roger Norman/Larry Roeseler finished second in points, with Ed Stout rounding out the top three.

In the same series, Randy Wilson picked up the Class 1 championship, with WRC and Baja legend Armin Schwarz and co-driver Martin Christensen finishing second the series standings.

At the SCORE San Felipe 250, the second race of this year‘s SCORE International championship, the AGM Team not only won in their class 1 with its own developed 640 HP powered Buggy. They also beat the 850 HP powered Trophy Trucks. A terrific overall victory for Schwarz/Christensen.

The Best in the Desert Series crowned driving duo Scott and Andy McMillin champions in the Trophy Truck class. Andy was named the 2009 Dirt Sports Driver of the Year as well.

further series

Further worldwide motorsports series where Eibach springs are being driven by champions are e.g. Late Models, Dirt Racing, Drag Racing and many more. Not to forget the grassroots racers. Each and every weekend around the world there have simply been hundreds of clubman level victories on Eibach products.

There’s far too many to mention and although these wins don’t carry the corporate cachet of the major team results, they are no less important to us. Success means just as much at every level of the sport.

Eibach would like to thank everyone for their continued gratitude and support in 2009. We look forward to continuing to produce championship winning teams and drivers this 2010 season with many continuing relationships, along with some new ones!

Watch for these teams / series running on Eibach springs in 2010:

• DTM / Audi Sport
• WRC / Ford M-Sport
• SEAT Leon Supercopa Cup
• Hermann Gassner Jr.  / German Rally Championship + some PWRC races
• F3 Euroseries + ATS F3 Cup / Team Motopark Academy
• M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car in various series / countries

… just to name a few …