Monte Carlo a first outing for WRC comeback kid Pirelli

After sitting 2017 out, Pirelli returns to the World Rally Championship this year, and brings all-new P Zero and Scorpion tyres with it. The first opportunity for us to see these in competitive action presents itself at the Rallye Monte Carlo tomorrow.

Reporting its tyre selection for the weekend’s event, Pirelli notes that Rallye Monte Carlo is “always compared to the roulette wheel in Monaco’s Casino.” By this it means that stages can start off in completely dry conditions that soon turn into snow, ice, black ice, rain or sleet – or all of these conditions may occur during the course of just one stage. While getting the tyre choice right or wrong can result in huge time gains or losses, drivers are never entirely sure what the right choice was until they get to the end of the stage.

The tyres available for competitors in Monte Carlo are the RK7B medium for dry conditions and RK9A supersoft for mixed dry and damp conditions. These tyres have a specially formulated compound to provide good grip even in marginal conditions; Pirelli comments that they benefit from technology also seen in its commercially-available Sottozero winter road tyres. For snow and ice as well as wet conditions, the Sottozero STZ-B is available in studded and non-studded versions. Drivers are allowed 37 tyres in total from the four different types available over the course of the rally. Extra tyres are allowed for shakedown.

Pirelli considers the SS1 Thoard-Sisteron stage the rally’s key stage. This 22.80 mile (36.69 kilometre) course is the longest of the rally. It’s also the first, and action there begins at 9.43pm tomorrow. Conditions are usually icy with a considerable risk of black ice on extremely treacherous old asphalt. With drivers and co-drivers launching themselves into competitive action for the first time in months after the off-season, big gains can be made by those willing to take risks.

“After a year off from the World Rally Championship – where we have of course been very active in the European championship and other rally series – we are building up to an increased presence in the WRC, especially starting with the next round in Sweden where the Junior World Rally Championship begins,” says Pirelli rally activity manager Terenzio Testoni. “For Monte-Carlo, a new family of RK tyres makes its debut, with specific compounds that are formulated to make the difference when grip is marginal. The Sottozero has also been improved, providing unprecedented levels of traction even in severe snow and ice; the sort of conditions we could see this year, according to the latest weather reports.”