In the United States (US), Bridgestone Americas Inc. (Bridgestone) has announced that "major strides" have been made during the off-season to incorporate more sustainable and bio-circular materials into the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, highlighting the advancement of three key initiatives that will make the upcoming season the most sustainable to date for America’s premier open-wheel racing series.
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As the series’ exclusive tyre supplier, Bridgestone will feature Firestone Firehawk race tyres made with rubber derived from the guayule desert shrub as the alternate tyre in all five street circuits of the 17-race season, a four-race bump from the season prior.
Additionally, the majority of race tyres used this season will be manufactured at the energy-efficient Advanced Test Production Center (ATPC), which has now received International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS recognition for its transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials.
Finally, the company will utilize ISCC mass balance certified synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics in all its race tires for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
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, said Paolo Ferrari, CEO of Bridgestone Americas.
Guayule race tyres for the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
The Firestone Firehawk race tire will be featured as the alternative tire at the Firestone Grand Prix (March 5) in St. Petersburg, Florida (FL), Streets of Long Beach (April 16), Streets of Detroit (June 4), Streets of Toronto (July 16) and the Music City Grand Prix (Aug 6) in Nashville, Tennessee (TN).
For the 2023 season, Bridgestone will supply more than 1 900 tyres using a sidewall material made exclusively with rubber derived from the guayule woody desert shrub grown on the company’s own farm in Eloy, Arizona (AZ).
The initiative builds on the 2022 competitive debut of guayule race tyres at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville last August
Creating a bioeconomy with Guayule
Bridgestone launched its guayule research initiative in 2012 when it broke ground on a guayule processing and research center in Mesa, Arizona (AZ). Today, the company continues to operate the Mesa facility in addition to a 281-acre guayule farm in Eloy, Arizona.
To date, Bridgestone has invested more than US$100 million in its efforts to commercialize guayule. Bridgestone is also the recipient of multiple U.S. government research grants for guayule research and development, including from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute.
In August 2022, Bridgestone announced its plans to invest an additional US$42 million to establish commercial operations, with additional investment and expansion toward 2030.
This investment will increase the capacity of up to 25 000 additional acres of farmland for planting and harvesting guayule at scale in collaboration and partnership with local US farmers and Native American tribes.
Guayule is part of Bridgestone’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality and make tires from 100 percent sustainable materials by 2050. The company is targeting commercial production of guayule-derived natural rubber by the end of the decade.
Advanced TYre Production Center with ISCC PLUS
Bridgestone completes its farm-to-track sustainability initiative by manufacturing all Firestone Firehawk race tyres at the newly ISCC PLUS certified ATPC in Akron. The certification was awarded to the facility on November 2, 2022, for its transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials including bio, bio-circular, and circular-based synthetic rubber.
The ATPC is the fourth Bridgestone facility in North America to be awarded the certification, behind the Aiken County Passenger/Light Truck Plant and Polymer Engineering Pilot Center in Akron.
Sustainable practices in its manufacturing facilities are a critical element of Bridgestone’s sustainability commitments, including its aim to achieve carbon neutrality and tires made with 100 percent sustainable materials by 2050.
ISCC PLUS certified circular butadiene
This year at the Indy 500, all race tyres – for practice, qualifying, and race– will incorporate ISCC recycled-attributed butadiene, a monomer produced with recycled post-consumer plastic waste, to create the synthetic rubber in the tyre, using the ISCC mass balance approach.
The new monomer will replace the fossil-based monomer and will be supplied by Shell, the race series’ official fuel, oil, and lubricant sponsor.
