Pirelli Supports Le Mans Teams

Pirelli is to support to some “top teams” that it says have “an optimum chance of acquitting themselves well” at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The legendary French endurance race, which will take place from 18 to 19 June, will see Pirelli support squads entered in three of the four categories permitted.

During test days, which began in early June, Pirelli saw the teams it supports take top positions among the Prototypes of the LMP2 and Grand Touring GT2 classes and set respectable times in the GT1 category. Among the LMP2s (class 2 Prototypes), the Courage-Judd of Britons Mullen-Bennett-Mitchell recorded the third fastest time overall, and was the best of the French constructor’s many two-seaters at Le Mans. Then there was the performance of the works Panoz Elan, fitted with P Zero tyres and driven by Auberlen-Liddell-Maxwell, who were second overall at only 14 tenths of a second from the fastest time set in class 2 of the Grand Touring category.

Pierluigi De Cancellis, Pirelli Competizioni’s Circuit manager said: “The excellent performance of the Courage-Judd and the Panoz Elan confirms the competitiveness of the P Zero range at Le Mans. That result assumes even greater significance if one considers that none of the cars on Pirelli used qualifying tyres. The two BMS-Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranellos, in particular, exploited the two days of testing well in an effort to find useful reference information with which to prepare themselves in the best possible way for the race.”