Rally Japan to close ‘spectacular’ World Rally Championship 2023 season – Pirelli

Tyre supplier Pirelli is expecting a “heartfelt and hard-fought race” as well as an interesting event “from a technical point of view” at the eighth edition of Rally Japan (16-19 November), which ends the World Rally Championship season. Pirelli will supply the P Zero Hard as the prime tyre, with the P Zero Soft and Cinturato Wet also available to teams.

Kalle Rovanpera and Toyota have already secured the 2023 driver and manufacturer championship top honours. But Pirelli says the Japanese team’s home rally represents an interesting challenge, due to the challenging 304.66 competitive kilometers scheduled on the roads around Nagoya and the weather that could increase the slipperiness of the rally’s surfaces.

The asphalt on the 22 special stages, including three in the Toyota Stadium, which run in the Ena, Gifu and Chūbu regions are generally challenging and can be slippery, especially in the early morning hours, particularly on the mountain sections. The hazards posed by cuts that bring soil, stones and foliage onto the road should not be underestimated. However, the real attention must be paid particularly to the weather, according to which at the moment the race is presented with a rainy Friday and the rest of the weekend without precipitation, but with cold temperatures, especially in the morning, and predictably quite wet surfaces, opening the way for a plurality of possible choices.

Thus, while on Friday an almost exclusive use of the Cinturato wet-weather tyres is to be expected, on the other two race days the options will focus on the other two tyres available, also in combination with each other: the P Zero Hard (prime), which over the course of the season have shown great versatility, offering reliability even on not entirely dry asphalts, and the P Zero Soft (option), more suitable in case wet conditions and lack of grip turn out to be greater than expected.

Terenzio Testoni, rally activity manager, said: “Although the championship is closed, I expect a heartfelt and hard-fought race from everyone, as well as a very interesting one from a technical point of view. Japan’s roads and weather conditions pose challenges that should not be underestimated and present risks that must be well analysed especially in the reconnaissance phase, where any slightest error in judgment could cost a high price. For us, it will be an opportunity to accumulate more data for future developments of our products. After all, we have experienced an intense season in which we have always had the opportunity to learn something, with races that are always challenging and, often, notably spectacular.”

For Rally1 cars, Pirelli will supply:

• 28 P Zero RA WRC HA (hard) tyres, suitable for dry, more abrasive surfaces and longer stages
• 18 for the P Zero RA WRC SA (soft), ideal for the slipperier dry asphalts
• 12 for the Cinturato RWB wet-weather tyres.

Each Rally1 car can fit a total of 28 tyres during the race, including four for the shakedown.

For WRC2, which can use up to a maximum of 26 tyres per car, including shakedown, the allocations for each crew are:

• 26 P Zero RA5A
• 18 P Zero RA7+B
• 12 Cinturato RWB