Pirelli visits Valencia in Ferrari Challenge 2023 European opener

Pirelli travelled to Valencia for the first European round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli at the weekend. The Italian tyre manufacturer has supported the single-make series since the competition’s creation in 1992, through its growth to a three-continent journey to some of the world’s best racing circuits. Pirelli supported the Spanish event with 2,500 tyres, transported by six trucks and mounted on the 47 competing cars by a team of 15 people, plus technical and support staff. Having started the series in Homestead, Florida, at the start of March, the 2023 edition will be augmented by the Ferrari Challenge Japan, with one of the three races to be held at Suzuka. The Japanese track joins other iconic circuits such as Silverstone, a race valid for the Ferrari Challenge UK, Monza, Spa, Spielberg, and Abu Dhabi. Le Mans is also on the packed calendar this year.

“The inclusion on the calendar of so many prestigious and challenging circuits,” explains Matteo Braga, Pirelli’s GT activities manager, “raises the bar for our commitment, but it also gives us the opportunity to collect valuable data in so many contexts and to receive confirmation of the extremely high versatility of the solution we have developed for the Ferrari Challenge, which has to adapt to profoundly different driving styles, conditions and tracks.

“The Ferrari Challenge has always offered us a dual opportunity: to test the sporty performance of our tyres in a competition at the highest level and to be close to amateur drivers, who outside the context of racing, well represent the tastes and tendencies of many drivers. The Ferrari one-make, in fact, in addition to being an exceptional platform for the development of products for other GT categories, is a laboratory for road tyres: many solutions born in recent years for the Ferrari Challenge have become, over time, standards for road tyres.”

The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli is running on the Italian manufacturer’s tyres for the 31st consecutive year (Photo: Pirelli)

Pirelli will support the Ferrari Challenge drivers with a dedicated team of engineers and fitters for each of the Trofeo’s main geographical areas, making a total of four teams and around 70 experts involved. The product destined again this year for the Ferrari one-make is the P Zero DHB, the variant of the P Zero Pirelli specially developed for the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo.

Pirelli develops tyres for the Ferrari Challenge in parallel with the car, as is often the case for the road cars of the brands with which Pirelli is a partner. It uses virtual design in the first phase, which helps to reduce outdoor sessions and the production of prototypes, allowing the car to take to the track right from the first test sessions with a tyre-car combination close to the target set. The work starts at least a year before the official launch in the Championship and aims to optimise drivability and performance for all types of drivers, in all asphalt conditions.

The tyres produced for the Ferrari Challenge, as well as for the other motorsport categories, represent an opportunity to optimise processes and sustainability, Pirelli adds. Pirelli became the first tyre manufacturer in the world to be awarded the three stars of the Environmental Accreditation Programme promoted by the FIA for its commitment to sustainability in motorsport. It aims to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2030 with aggressive plans to replace the electricity purchased for all its factories from fossil fuels with 100 per cent from renewable sources.

For the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, arriving in 2020, Pirelli developed a completely new tyre. Particular attention was given to the materials and structure of the front tyres to maximise the car’s optimised aerodynamics.

Pirelli’s technical partnership with Ferrari covers the entire life span of Ferrari, founded in 1947, and half that of Pirelli, which last year celebrated its 150^th anniversary.

Since the debut of the Ferrari Challenge in 1992, there have been seven road-going GTs cars of ever-increasing power, seven corresponding racing variants that are even more challenging, and seven specific models of P Zero tyres. This continuous exchange of experience and knowledge between competition and the road have contributed to the safety and reliability of Pirelli tyres for the road as well as the track, Pirelli states.