January 20, 2020 |
Pirelli To Supply World Rally Championship from 2021 to 2024
THE ITALIAN FIRM WILL ALSO SUPPLY SEVERAL NATIONAL AND REGIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIPS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, UNDERLINING ITS LEADERSHIP AT THE TOP OF THE SPORT
Milan, December 21, 2019 – Pirelli has been chosen by the FIA, world motorsport’s governing body, as the sole supplier for the World Rally Championship from 2021 to 2024. In particular, Pirelli will supply tyres for all the four-wheel drive cars that are competing in the championship, from the WRC category that fights for the overall title, to the R5-specification WRC2 class, which is also the headlining category for regional and national championships throughout the world.
AT THE TOP OF MOTORSPORT: IN F1 AND WRC
Pirelli’s latest participation in top class rallying, is in addition to the similar exclusive agreement that the Italian company has had for nine years with Formula 1. These tyre supply agreements confirm that Pirelli is the leader in world motorsports, with more than 110 years of experience in the field.
Giovanni Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s senior vice president of prestige and motorsport, said: “Technology and passion are two key elements that Pirelli bring to motorsport, and these have allowed us to secure the single tyre supply for the World Rally Championship. We’ve supported young drivers in the Junior category for many years and now we’re returning to the top class as well.”
Pirelli is also going to continue its support for young drivers, as alongside continuing the supply of tyres to the Junior WRC, Pirelli will also carry on equipping the Junior ERC3 class in the European Rally Championship.
Mario Isola, Pirelli’s head of F1 and car racing, said: “Our return to the top level of rallying is something that we were considering for a while, and it’s particularly fitting that this appointment from the FIA comes in the year that Ott Tänak – a graduate of the Pirelli Star Driver programme – was crowned world champion. Supplying the WRC alongside F1 will enable us to improve our products still further by putting them against some of the most varied and demanding conditions seen in motorsport.”
PIRELLI IN RALLYING
Pirelli has been involved in top class rallying since 1973, claiming 25 world titles and winning 181 WRC events. In the recent past, Pirelli was sole supplier to the WRC from 2008 to 2010, and then, since 2018, it supplied tyres for the cars in the WRC2 category. Pirelli has always used rallying, with its extreme driving conditions, as a perfect live environment for its engineers to test new technologies, and ultimately introduce them to road cars.
THE TYRE RANGE
Pirelli will supply the WRC with tyres that have already been successful around the world in numerous different rally championships. The P Zero RA is used on asphalt, with different compounds available to suit the terrain and weather conditions. The Sottozero Snow (with or without studs) is used for snowy conditions, the Sottozero Ice J1 was specifically designed for Rally Sweden, while on gravel stages, the reinforced Scorpion K is perfectly suited for a wide variety of loose surface conditions.
Source: Pirelli
