Firestone issues Champ Car tyre warning

De Ferran's Penske Reynard-Honda slewed out of control, causing it to smack into the Turn Three wall, after its right-rear tyre lost a portion of its tread. The Brazilian had run 57 laps (85.6 miles) on the same set of tyres before he crashed - over Firestone's recommended limit of 70 miles.

"We were greatly, greatly concerned when we heard about Gil's crash, and we immediately dispatched an engineer from our technical base in Akron to Homestead," said spokesman Woody McMillin. "We gathered information, looked at the tyres and at digital photography, and immediately went into conservative mode and urged the teams to limit their runs to 40 laps [60.1 miles]."

McMillan noted that the tyres that Penske and the other Champ Car teams were using were the same ones used in CART's 2000 races at Homestead and Motegi, Japan. He added that Firestone had not had any previous problems using that particular tyre on CART or IRL cars.

"We don't know what caused the skid, but a portion of the tread came off," added McMillin. "That was a powerful message to us, -the rest of the tread was paper-thin. The last thing a driver needs to be doing is questioning the tyres."

Firestone entered CART competition in 1995 to take on Goodyear, which had enjoyed a Champ Car monopoly since Firestone withdrew at the end of the 1974 season. Firestone-shod cars won the CART championship every year from 1996-1999, winning 60 of 72 races and effectively forced Goodyear out of the sport.

With its own Champ Car monopoly in 2000, Firestone created harder tyres that were intended to reduce the amount of rubber marbles that accumulated on the side of circuits. Several Champ Car teams discovered the harder and more durable tyres were able to last more than one stint in race conditions, which may have been a contributing factor in de Ferran's crash.

"We don't put any blame on Penske," said McMillin. "Maybe we've been too successful, because so many guys have been able to run double stints. If there is any fault here, it lies with us for not being more aggressive in our communication with the teams telling them not to over-extend the tyres."