“A Very Demanding Situation for Our Gravel Tyres”

Drivers at the upcoming Cyprus round of the World Rally Championship are to face an increased challenge on the island following the decision to supply competitors with only hard compound gravel tyres, despite the change of format to include a first day on asphalt in addition to the more traditional gravel surfaces of the later stages.

Mario Isola, the rally manager at Pirelli – the official tyre supplier to the WRC – stated, “this is a very demanding situation for our gravel tyres and surely the skills required from the drivers will be somewhat different. There is surely less grip but everyone has been surprised by how well the tyres stood up in the tests.”

The policy to supply a single tyre variety has been inspired by the general drive in motorsport to cut costs: the fact that there will only be one variety of tyre for Pirelli to transport is only part of the story since the different equipment required for fitting asphalt-spec wheels would have meant increased transportation costs for constructors like Ford and Citroen. It is at the vehicle providers’ request, alongside cooperation from the FIA, that Pirelli has agreed to limit its tyre selection to one.

“At the end of the day it is the same for everyone and the tests confirmed that there was no real safety issue involved. In some ways it could be viewed as a return to ‘old-style’ rallying where the equipment was less specialized and the skills of the driver were more dominant,” Isola concluded.