Bridgestone announced the launch of its new flagship ultra-high performance tire: the Bridgestone Potenza Sport.
The tire combines Bridgestone’s pioneering spirit and expertise in high performance tires with extensive market research to keep drivers in control while unlocking the performance of their vehicle.
“The Potenza Sport is the latest chapter in Bridgestone’s long legacy in high performance,” said Emilio Tiberio, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Bridgestone EMIA. “It is the result of our history and innovation in motorsports, combined with our commitment to always going the extra mile to meet drivers’ needs, and an investment in research and development that is unmatched in the tire industry.
“We engineered a premium, high-value sports tire that keeps drivers in control while unlocking the performance of their vehicle. Potenza Sport is truly a new excellence in sports performance.”
A new excellence in sports performance
Bridgestone has a strong legacy of expertise in high performance tires thanks to its heritage in Formula One racing and long-term partnerships with premium, high performance car manufacturers. Building on these experiences, Bridgestone has developed a new, cutting-edge high-performance product: the Bridgestone Potenza Sport. This next generation tire represents a new standard in premium, high-end sports performance, providing best-in-class performance in the dry supported by a premium wet package.
Co-created with drivers, pioneered with cutting-edge technologies
In the Potenza Sport, Bridgestone wanted to create a tire that meets the expectations drivers have in high performance tires, while also addressing the everyday challenges they face. That is why comprehensive market research was undertaken to begin the Potenza Sport development: Bridgestone interviewed over 3,800 end-users across Europe. Their input gave Bridgestone the foundations to engineer an ultra-high performance tire that meets driver needs and expectations of control and confidence.
To achieve the Potenza Sport’s cutting-edge performance, Bridgestone applies various new, innovative technologies in tread pattern, compound and construction. The tire’s tread design applies several new cutting-edge technologies, including innovative 3D sipes to increase shear stiffness, with benefits in braking and abrasion resistance; the compound, thanks to an optimized formula combined with innovative mixing technology, improves wet and dry performances. Bridgestone also uses a new hybrid crown reinforcement to maximise the tire’s stability performance at high speed. A sporty carcass package is also applied to increase stability performance and steering response, while optimizing rolling resistance.
Fundamental to the design and creation of the Potenza Sport is Bridgestone’s proprietary timesaving, environmentally friendly virtual tire development technology. The technology enables Bridgestone to very accurately predict a tyre’s performance at development stage, without physically producing and driving it. Not only does this bring environmental benefits by saving resources, it also reduces the length of the development process and cuts the project’s time to market.
