Rallye Monte-Carlo marks Pirelli’s exclusive WRC comeback

On Thursday, Pirelli will return as exclusive tyre supplier to the FIA World Rally Championship after an absence of more than ten years. The Rallye Monte-Carlo – itself 110 years old in 2021 – is considered one of the most demanding anywhere in the world because of the often changeable weather conditions encountered on the asphalt roads that snake their way through the French Alps. Pirelli is bringing around 3,200 tyres to this challenging rally round.

“We’re delighted to be coming back with some brand new tyre concepts: all our previous rallying successes and know-how have gone into the development of this latest generation of tyres,” comments Terenzio Testoni, Pirelli’s rally activity manager. “Monte-Carlo is the most challenging rally of the year for tyres, where crews have to think about making the best choice for whole loops rather than individual stages. This year, the job becomes even harder due to COVID-related restrictions, which might mean we see one of the most unpredictable Montes ever.”

Pirelli is offering the following tyres in Monte-Carlo:

P Zero RA: Pirelli’s asphalt product – designed for dry or damp roads – is supplied in a supersoft compound exclusively for Rallye Monte-Carlo and its cooler temperatures. A soft compound is also available, and Pirelli will deploy this during asphalt events throughout the season.

Sottozero STZ-B: A winter tyre designed with the mixed conditions of Rallye Monte-Carlo in mind. The STZ-B comes in two specifications: with or without studs.

Each driver is allocated up to 80 tyres, from which they can use as many as 34 during the rally: 24 P Zero RA Super Soft; 20 P Zero RA Soft; 24 Sottozero STZ-B studded; 12 Sottozero STZ-B without studs. In addition to the ten WRC drivers, Pirelli is set to supply 35 other four-wheel drive cars, including those in the WRC 2 and WRC 3 championships, which Pirelli also exclusively supplies this season. The tyre maker will have 27 staff present at the rally, including fitters and engineers.

Short but intense, with early starts

Thanks to schedule revisions, this year’s Rallye Monte-Carlo is one of the shortest ever, at just under 258 kilometres. But Pirelli comments that it “promises to be no less intense.”

With sections of dry asphalt, ice and snow often all present in a single stage, it’s impossible to compete on the right tyre all of the time. That makes it very tricky for drivers to know the correct rubber to leave service with – even though they have the help of route-note crews and dedicated meteorologists within each team, as well as Pirelli’s engineers.

Teams need to start early. A nightly curfew in France as part of the country’s COVID-19 restrictions means the rally schedule has been shifted forward by a few hours each day. As a consequence there are no late-night stages this year, but there will instead be stages run before dawn on both Friday and Saturday. Temperatures can vary rapidly at this hour, making tyre choices even harder. A key stage will be La Bréole – Selonnet, run at 06:30 on Saturday morning, then again at midday before the crews venture south for Monaco. It climbs early on to the highest point of the rally, at 1325 metres above sea level.