Pirelli – China is “Pivotal”

In addition to its commitment to the FIA-GT Championship, which kicks off for 2007 at the Zhuhai circuit in Guangdong Province on March 23, Pirelli Competizioni will also take a leading role in an up and coming race series, the Asia SuperCar Challenge (ASCC), a series for GT cars in South-East Asia. Pirelli has entered into an agreement to be the exclusive tyre supplier for all 10 scheduled races held between March and September.

The Italian tyremaker views the agreement signed between Pirelli Competizioni and series organisers, the SuperCar Club Hong Kong Ltd, as confirmation of Pirelli’s focus upon China – including on the sporting front – and the company’s efforts to become firmly established as more than just another international tyremaker operating in China. Therefore, Pirelli point out that the presence of PZero Racing tyres in the ASCC series should not be seen as a surprise development, but as a product of the company’s ongoing support for an extremely interesting, immense and competitive market, one in which Pirelli Tyre SpA has been active for two years and is experiencing healthy growth, thanks in part to the company’s newly established facilities for the production of car and truck tyres.

Speaking about the ASCC series, Paul Hembery, Director of Pirelli Competizioni, said “This is a championship which is clearly undergoing a phase of growth; it has notable expansion possibilities as well as interesting drivers and teams, able to assure the public and mass media of extremely spectacular racing with cars of great emotional impact, such as those of Porsche, Ferrari, Lotus, Mitsubishi and others.

“So to be the exclusive tyre supplier to the series is a promotional vehicle – as well as an excellent commercial channel – of prime importance for Pirelli products in a situation which is moving towards the future faster than a GT racing car. And that is without considering that four times the cars entered for the 2007 ASCC championship will compete on modern circuits like Sepang and Shanghai, which are already points of reference for world motor sport.

Speaking about the Pzero tyres that will be used as control tyres for the series, Mr. Hembery added “as far as the tyres are concerned, it should be pointed out that our PZero Racing tyres have fully satisfied the organisers and promoters of this championship, which is further proof of the high quality standards of motor racing products created by Pirelli.”

For the 2007 season the Asian SuperCar Challenge program comprises ten races, which will take place during the following five weekend events:

24-25 March Zhuhai, China
26-27 May Zhuhai, China
23-24 June Sepang, Malaysia
18-19 August Shanghai, China
15-16 September Zhuhai, China.