Pirelli completes European Rally Championship season with fourth victory

Pirelli is celebrating a successful 2023 season in European rally after Mads Ostberg claimed victory in Hungary in his Citroen C3, shod with Scorpion rally tyres. Pirelli is the only tyre-maker of the four suppliers to the European Rally Championship to have seen victories claimed on all surfaces through the season, with its runners achieving podium finishes at every meeting. Hayden Paddon had already claimed the title with two races to spare on Pirelli rubber. 55 of 106 special stages were also won on Pirelli tyres.

The latest success came aboard the Citroen C3 driven by Mads Ostberg, who also won the power stage, making a full haul. The Norwegian driver is the fourth driver that Pirelli has driven to victory in the eight races of the championship. Before Ostberg the P Lunga victories came with Paddon in a Hyundai i20N (Serras de Fafe), Oliver Solberg in a Polo GTI R5 (Scandinavia) and Andrea Crugnola in a Citroen C3 (Rome).

“We have opened and closed the FIA ERC with victories that seal a championship that has been exciting for us, not only for the number of overall successes, but above all because we have consolidated our position in such a challenging context as the European one, in which our products have imposed themselves on all terrains, with different cars and very different drivers,” comments Terenzio Testoni, Pirelli’s rally activity manager.

“The work of our team of engineers and technicians has become a point of reference for teams and drivers, setting standards of service and assistance never seen in the European Championship and very similar to those we provide in the WRC. The experience we are accumulating in the World Championship also makes itself felt heavily in the evolution of products and in the development of strategies for approaching races, just as the European Championship makes itself felt in the development of increasingly high-performance tyres.

“It is no coincidence that we are the only tyre manufacturer to make the podium in all races, the only one to make the en-plein, as in the Rally of Roma, and the only one to have won on both gravel and asphalt. My compliments this time go not only to the drivers who achieved success with us, but also to our entire team, which supported them at their best”.

Of the four wins claimed on Pirelli tyres, two were on asphalt (Rome and Hungary) and two on gravel (Fafe and Scandinavia), achieved with 4 drivers and 3 different cars (Citroen, Hyundai, Volkswagen)

Out of a total of 106 special stages, Pirelli-tyred cars won 55, or 52 per cent, with a 55 per cent spike in gravel stages (30 out of a total of 55) with 10 drivers and five cars from manufacturers Citroen, Hyundai, Ford, Skoda, and Volkswagen.