Green wall tyres made out of Guayule Rubber will serve as alternates for the five street races in the 2023 season.
On February 23, Firestone announced that their Guayule Rubber tyres, used at last season’s Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, will be utilized in all five street races this year, including the season opener Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. They’ll be distinctive from normal rubber alternates via the use of the color green instead of red. Also was announced the use of synthetic rubber in all the tyres used at the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Guayule is a woody desert shrub, from the Sonoran Desert Southwest of Arizona, that produces natural and environmentally friendly rubber, being an alternative to the Pará “Rubber Tree”. Bridgestone began researching the properties of the plant in 2012 at a research center in Mesa, Arizona. Later, inaugurated a new 281-acre facility in Eloy.
The company invested more than $100 million in its efforts and is planning on investing a further $42 million. The initiative is part of a wider program, focused on achieving 100% sustainable materials and carbon neutrality until 2050 and commercial production of Guayule tyres until the end of the decade.
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Paolo Ferrari, CEO of Bridgestone Americas, declared: “We are driving sustainability in every area of our business, and we’re thrilled to be advancing guayule and other sustainable practices in America’s premier open-wheel racing series.
“Firestone has a tremendous legacy of innovation and performance in racing, which we will continue to build upon as we move into this new era of cleaner, safer and more sustainable mobility on and off the track.”
