Eurosport Events inks partnership with TAG Heuer for WTCC and EWC

Eurosport Events, the promoter of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) for motorbikes, has announced a partnership with TAG Heuer, as the Official Timing Partner of both series. New for 2016, WTCC Manufacturers Against the Clock (WTCC MAC3) is a team time trial contest inspired by professional cycling and a first for global motorsport, when timing means everything. EWC also goes from strength-to-strength in its second season, benefitting from Eurosport Events’ expertise, with a move to a winter schedule.

WTCC season 2016 began at Circuit Paul Ricard in France from 1-3 April. The EWC is underway with the longest event of all — the gruelling 24h Motos at Le Mans — from 9-10 April.

WTCC MAC3 encapsulates the essence of TAG Heuer’s #dontcrackunderpressure campaign with some of the best touring car drivers in the world vying to beat the clock while never cracking under pressure in a bid to deliver winning team results.

TAG Heuer’s partnership with Eurosport Events is a demonstration of its DNA as a motorsport timekeeper, a function it pioneered more than five decades ago. However, the partnership goes further and will result in the creation of dedicated WTCC and EWC online content based on the #dontcrackunderpressure tagline, sponsorship of the live WTCC and EWC broadcasts on Eurosport, trackside branding and VIP hospitality programmes. The TAG Heuer Performer Award will also be handed to the driver that sets the fastest race lap during each WTCC race weekend.

“We are thrilled to help TAG Heuer return to an international motorsport championship as a timekeeper,” said François Ribeiro, Head of Eurosport Events, the WTCC and EWC promoter. “TAG Heuer is a brand with unparalleled heritage in motorsport and timekeeping in particular. After a one-year technical partnership, we’re delighted to bring the company on-board as a series sponsor on two wheels and four.

“Eurosport Events is not just the promoter of the WTCC and EWC, it is a media group telling great stories of emotion that are entrenched in our DNA, making the association with TAG Heuer under the #dontcrackunderpressure campaign such a good fit.”

“Sport is emotion, it is success, joy, hope, endurance, performance. All the qualities that are also found in a TAG Heuer watch,” said Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of TAG Heuer and President of the LVMH Watch Division. “Swiss Avant Garde since 1860 is our slogan. It’s a state of mind that drives us, today more than ever, to be disruptive, connected to the future, and innovative. Our activity with the WTCC and EWC will bring together all these ingredients, those of a Swiss luxury, young and dynamic brand which has all the hallmarks of a high-end product, but one which is still accessible.”