Pirelli partnering with HRC Honda at 2013 Dakar

Pirelli will participate in the 2013 Dakar rally as technical partner to Team HRC, fitting the Honda CRF450 Rally bikes ridden by the three riders – Helder Rodrigues, Javier Pizzolito and Johnny Campbell – with Scorpion Rally tyres. This year’s rally gets underway in Lima, Peru on 5 January and ends in Santiago, Chile on 20 January after completing a route containing 14 legs and spanning Chile, Peru and Argentina. For the bikes, this means a grand total of 8,423 kilometres, 4,277 over normal roads to reach special trial tracks or the bivouacs at the end of each leg, and 4,146 kilometres on special timed trials which will determine the competition standings.

For the Dakar rally, Pirelli is making two front and rear versions of the Scorpion Rally tyres available to Team HRC. The rear size of 140/80-18 was selected as the best rear rally tyre by Honda, and the front size of 90/90-21, which Pirelli comments is “absolutely unrivalled” in terms of performance on hard terrain. So Team HRC and its riders, with the assistance of on-site Pirelli technicians, will be able to choose the best solution depending on what type of leg the riders are racing.

Pirelli reports that during tests conducted last autumn in Morocco and California, it was able to confirm and even strengthen the rear specifications and, thanks to feedback from the riders and the team, the company was able to turn its attention immediately to the front tyre, improving performance in record time. During the tests, Pirelli worked to improve the tyre on sand whilst maintaining the excellent hard terrain performance which has always defined it. For this purpose, the engineers from the Italian manufacturer worked mostly on the tread pattern, changing the layout of the knobs, where needed, in order to guarantee better line holding and better floating on sand.

Scorpion Rally is the Pirelli product dedicated to raids and has been developed over decades of participating in various off-road competitions on all types of terrain, from soft sand to hard rocks. Developing the Scorpion Rally took several years, but Pirelli says its know-how and testing in demanding environments allowed its engineers to introduce innovative solutions for off-road competitions. Pirelli believes its Scorpion Rally tyres are once again “ready to surge ahead through the courses of these legendary competitions.”