In October of 2009 Continental formed a business alliance with Hoosier Racing Tire, which had been the Grand-Am racing rubber of choice prior to Pirelli's involvement. Bill Caldwell, Continental's vice president of sales and marketing, says the company "is committed to being a leading force in the motorsports community – and becoming the official tire of the Grand-AM Rolex Sports Car Series is part of that strategy." He adds that "the Rolex series is one of the most highly-regarded racing series in the U.S., and will be a perfect format to emphasize the capabilities of our Continental ExtremeContact ultra-high performance tires." "Continental Tire was selected through a stringent evaluation process to be official tire of the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2011, and we are excited that they are expanding their current partnership with Grand-Am Road Racing," reports Kevin Hindson, the circuit's vice president of marketing and communications.