Last weekend, Pirelli made its return to the World Rally Championship after a long absence. The tyre maker was sole WRC tyre supplier between 2008 and 2010 but left the series when it was opened up to multiple tyre suppliers for the 2011 season. It also supplied the WRC Academy until 2012. Its focus this year is privateer competitors, and Pirelli is offering these drivers an entirely-new range of rally tyres.
Pirelli has launched its new range of four rally tyres ahead of its reintroduction to the World Rally Championship. Exhibited at Autosport International, the Italian manufacturer has designed a new RK in size 235/40R18 with hard and soft compound options and Sottozero studded and studless models for Monte Carlo in size 235/40R18 for asphalt; a […]
At next week’s Autosport International, Pirelli will showcase its new range of FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) tyres ahead of the tyre maker’s return to world rallying. Pirelli will also bring four cars to the show including a McLaren MP4 12C, McLaren’s road-going car which exclusively uses Pirelli tyres as original equipment. Also on display will be a Pirelli-equipped McLaren GT3 to represent the Dutch Supercar Challenge, as well as a Ferrari 458 used in the Ferrari Open and GT Cup Championships – both of which use Pirelli as the championship control tyre supplier. Finally, a Pirelli-equipped Skoda Fabia S2000 that was used to win this year’s European Rally Championship will be on display to mark Pirelli’s return to WRC.
Cooper Tire Europe will help two very different teams to build on the success they experienced in the 2013 Dakar when the 35th edition of the event begins on 5 January in Rosario, Argentina. Catalan rally ace and Cooper Europe 4×4 ambassador, Xavi Foj is looking for his third successive T2 Production Class title on Cooper rubber, while the Race2Recovery team returns to build on its impressive achievements in 2013.
PFC Brakes has been chosen as official brake supplier to Renault Sport Technologies for its new Clio RS R3T rally car. The company’s pads, discs and calipers incorporate innovations, such as piston cap insulators, which reduce temperature transfer to the brake fluid by as much as 55˚C, minimising the risk of boiling the fluid. This should help the brakes to deliver better performance on tarmac and gravel while adhering to stringent cost and technical requirements set for the category.
Kumho Tyres Australia has renewed its support for the Australian Rally Championship. The company has been involved with the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship for the past four seasons and has now committed to being official tyre supplier up until at least 2016.
Vintage Tyres has announced the launch of the Dunlop 145SR10 SP44 Weathermaster. According to the company, the firm had to go “right back to the drawing board and create a brand new mould to the original specification” in order to give the new product its current lease of life. The SP44 is described as the classic rally tyre for the Mini Cooper and with its rugged design was also widely used on the famous Mini Moke.
Yokohama’s 2013 motorsport season included the novelty of supplying the control tyre for the inaugural BRDC Formula 4 series, which boasted full grids and close competition as a popular stepping stone in single seat racing for aspiring Formula One drivers.
Dmack is hoping to help four Ford Fiesta R5 drivers challenge for WRC2 honours at the revived Wales Rally GB round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Jari Ketomaa used the DMG+2 gravel tyre at Rally Finland in August to drive to victory, and he will challenge again when the championship kicks off on Thursday in North Wales. Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen will join him, driving a pair of Autotek-run Fiesta R5s in Dmack livery. Two local British drivers will also use Dmack in attempting to make home advantage count in the north and mid-Wales forests.
Pirelli has crowned British Rally Championship 2 winner Daniel McKenna its UK Star Driver honour ahead of five other finalists. During the two-day shootout at the Sweet Lamb motorsport complex in Wales, McKenna impressed a panel of five judges the most, winning a full, seven-round British Rally Championship campaign courtesy of the series’ tyre supplier. McKenna, from County Monaghan, will compete in a Citroen DS3 R3 supplied by DGM Motorsport.
Battling some of the trickiest conditions experienced so far in this season’s FIA World Rally Championship, Dmack has hailed a “successful” Rallye de France after one of its runners achieved a WRC2 Production Cup podium finish. The brand’s DMT-RC asphalt tyre came through the tough rally after delivering the grip and traction needed for its runners to safely make it to the finish of the treacherous event.
The proprietor of AJS Tyres and specialist AJS 4×4 in Lower Kingswood for over 35 years, Andy Sargeant was British Off Road Champion in 1989 and has competed in more off-road rallies than he cares to remember. He says the most important thing in any form of motorsport – or indeed in general driving – is to keep a full set of inflated tyres under your vehicle to have full control. So when he defeated the tough conditions of the recent Rallye des Cimes in his Defender 110 TD5 – the self-styled “Cimes Tractor” – the fact that he did it on the new General Tire Grabber MT made quite an impression. Sargeant says he will now pass on this experience to Land Rover owning customers.
ŠKODA Motorsport driver Jan Kopecký says that becoming the 2013 FIA European Rally Champion is “a dream come true”, after he clinched the title with victory on Rally Croatia.
Kopecký and co-driver Pavel Dresler made a risk-free start in Croatia, before showing their class on the slippery asphalt roads along the Adriatic coast and moving into the lead in their factory ŠKODA Fabia S2000.
Osian Pryce won the Trackrod Yorkshire Rally, round five of the British Rally Championship, following a three-way battle that took the event to the final stage. Pirelli, on whose tyres the BRC is competed, said that the rally matched last year’s corresponding event, which staged one of the championship’s closest finishes, for excitement. The manufacturer’s supported Pirelli Star Driver Mark Donelly helped make the event for Pirelli, driving a mature rally to bring his Pirelli-backed Citroen DS3 R3T home in fifth. Meanwhile championship leader Jukka Korhonen – a former Pirelli Star Driver himself – looks likely to clinch the title in the Dorset and Hampshire forests, where the six-round series concludes with Rallye Sunseeker International (18-19 October).
Arron Newby has become the youngest ever Intenational Rally Isle of Man winner after winning in the event’s 50th anniversary year. Newby is supported by Pirelli, and the 18 year old took his TEG Subaru Impreza with Manx co-driver Rob Fagg to victory on the Italian tyre manufacturer’s RX and RE asphalt tyres. Pirelli UK Motorsport operations manager Matthew Corby said: “The Manx is one of the most prestigious events in British rallying with the likes of Colin McRae and Roger Clark having won this rally in the past.”
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