Highlights included ISCC PLUS certified recycled butadiene in all tires, plus EV transportation to and from the event.
In an effort to promote environmental sustainability in one of motor racing’s most prestigious events, Bridgestone Americas pulled out all the stops for the 2023 Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day Weekend.
Teaming up with Penske and Shell, Bridgestone (which exclusively supplies tires for the NTT Indycar Series), incorporated ISCC PLUS certified recycled butadiene*, a monomer produced from hard-to-recycle used plastic shopping bags, film, stretch wrap and other flexible polymer packaging. Developed in partnership with Shell, this ISCC PLUS certified recycled butadiene was incorporated in all Firestone Firehawk race tires used during the 107th Indianapolis 500 weekend including practice, qualifying and the actual race.
EV transportation
Additionally, in an effort to further promote environmental sustainability Bridgestone partnered with Penske Truck Leasing and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to have all tires transported to the Indy 500 via electric Freightliner eCascadia tractor trailers, provided by Penske during the month of May.
All tires for the 2023 NTT Indycar Series are manufactured at the ISCC PLUS-certified Advanced Tire Production Center (ATPC) in Akron, Ohio.
As for the 107th Indianapolis 500 itself, the race proved to be one of the most eventful in recent memory.
Nailbiting racing
Several crashes during the event made the race a nailbiter, including a crash on lap 184, when Felix Rosenqvist hit the wall, before colliding with Kyle Kirkwood, that saw Kirkwood’s car flip over and lose a wheel, which vaulted over the fence and hit a parked car. Luckily nobody was injured.
After racing at the Brickyard 11 times previously, Josef Newgarden secured his first victory at Indy, making an aggressive move on the final lap shootout following the third reg flag. Passing 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson, Newgarden motored ahead to the finish, marking his first win at the Brickyard and the 19th for Team Penske.
*According to Bridgestone, the recycled material is allocated using the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) mass balance approach. Find out more about ISCC and our ATPC ISCC Plus certification at: www.iscc-system.org.
