Pirelli Completes WRC Tyre Supply Commitment

The conclusion of the Wales Rally GB on November 14 also marked the end of Pirelli’s time as official tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship. As of 2011 the WRC is being opened up to multiple tyre suppliers, and this change in regulations helped Pirelli decide to focus its motorsport energies on Formula One as of next year. Despite this, the Italian tyre maker views its three years’ WRC involvement as a very successful time, and Pirelli will continue its commitment to rallying through supporting the new WRC Academy, which replaces the Junior World Rally Championship as the first port of call for drivers aspiring to one day become world champion. The company will also provide the opportunity for six young drivers to contest the series as part of the Pirelli Star Driver programme, which it has supported for the last two seasons.

Since it began WRC tyre supply in 2008, Pirelli has supplied a total of 26,960 versions of its PZero, Scorpion and Sottozero tyres. Under the terms of its agreement with the FIA, the tyre maker was challenged to focus on durability rather than outright performance when developing its WRC tyre range, albeit without using the mousse inserts previously utilised. Pirelli reports that of these 26,960 tyres supplied, only 42 suffered failures whilst in use – failure rate of 0.016 per cent.

“Overall, the number of genuine punctures has been very small without compromising performance,” said Pirelli’s senior WRC tyre engineer Matteo Braga. “Together with the high level of customer service and equality we have strived to achieve, that has probably been our biggest achievement, and it’s one that everyone has recognised.”

Drivers and team bosses have also praised Pirelli’s contribution to the past three WRC seasons: “At the start of the agreement it was expected there would be some troubles because of the regulations meant you could only have two types of tyre and no mousse. But there were no punctures and lots of grip so no problems,” commented Sébastien Loeb. Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson added that “Pirelli have done a terrific job. Their product has worked very well with no problems on any of the rallies. They’ve also put in a major amount of investment into the Star Driver programme.”