WRC
Last month Mark Donnelly was named as Pirelli Star Driver 2013 and therefore the winner of a fully-paid drive in the 2013 British Rally Championship. According to the company, Donnelly impressed a panel of four judges with his maturity, technical know-how, media awareness and raw talent behind the wheel.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel claimed his third consecutive world title at the dramatic Brazilian Grand Prix, as McLaren’s Jenson Button took his third win of the season. Vettel stopped four times in his sixth place finish, having lost time with a spin and sustained damage following contact with another competitor on the opening lap. His nearest championship rival Fernando Alonso could only finish second behind Button, meaning his valiant season in what was largely thought of as a comparatively uncompetitive Ferrari ended four points short of victory. Vettel became the youngest ever triple world champion on Pirelli’s P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium tyres, with the Cinturato Green intermediates playing their part in damp conditions.
Today’s F1 drivers cut their teeth in one of several formulae, the newest of which, Auto GP, was established in 2010. The winner that year was Romain Grosjean, who now competes alongside former F1 Drivers Champion Kimi Räikkönen at Lotus Renault. The series’ original tyre supplier was Michelin, but the French giant was replaced by Kumho in time for this season’s 14-round championship, which took place at seven venues on three continents. Run in conjunction with the World Touring Car Championship, it has also enjoyed round-by-round coverage on Eurosport.
Dmack driver Nicolas Fuchs raced to a commanding victory in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) category at Rally Italia Sardegna. The result marked the Peruvian’s first ever win in the feeder series and Dmack’s first PWRC victory this year on what was the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Dmack has unveiled a new environmentally-friendly rally tyre whose tread is designed to reduce damage to roads and help cut costs and improve sustainability in motorsport. The Dmack Surface Saver has a low impact and less aggressive tread pattern which results in reduced abrasion and damage to gravel roads, the Anglo-Chinese manufacturer says. The E-marked tyre exhibits a symmetrical D-block design with reduced edges and 3mm less tread, measures it says give the tyre enhanced durability.
Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena secured the 2012 Drivers’ World Rally Championship title at the Rallye de France Alsace on 7 October, making it their ninth consecutive victory and Citroen Racing’s eighth Manufacturers’ title since 2003. Their victory marks a significant moment for Michelin motorsport, since it is the 20th Drivers’ WRC championship to be won using the company’s tyres – as well as being the 22nd time the Manufacturers’ title winner has used Michelin rubber since the introduction of the series by the FIA in 1973. Michelin’s oft-stated desire for competition between tyre manufacturers in motorsport is also satisfied by this statistic, since all of these 42 victories were claimed within a framework that allowed open competition between tyre companies.
Welshman Elfyn Evans has become the second-ever winner of the Pirelli-supported WRC Academy, a series attached to the FIA World Rally Championship and designed to identify future champions by pitting young drivers against each other in identical Ford Fiesta R2 rally cars. When Evans took his fourth consecutive win this year on the all-asphalt Rallye de France, his table tally rose to a level that put the title mathematically out of his rivals’ reach, despite there being one round of the Academy left to go this year.
World Rally Championship tyre supplier, Dmack is rolling out its passenger car and commercial tyre ranges this year, and the brand has received something of a boost in becoming one of the first Chinese tyre manufacturers to achieve an A rating in wet grip for one of its passenger car tyre products. Manufactured by Shandong Yongtai and designed and developed from the brand’s base in the north-west of England, the brand says it has achieved the rating with a concept version of its Kinetic S high performance tyre, which was launched in May this year. Dmack said the concept version of the tyre has been produced “to demonstrate the high levels of expertise that lie within the business”.
The penultimate round of the MSA British Rally Championship will move to Northern Ireland this week for the second all-asphalt round of the series, the Todds Leap Rally Northern Ireland on 17-18 August. Pirelli will bring a mixture of 15” to 17” RX7, RX5 and RE7 asphalt tyres; the RX7 is a medium compound tyre for dry conditions, while the RE7 is for dry and damp conditions and can be used as a full wet. The N3 will also be available in one 15” size for wet conditions. The tyre supplier also boasts the involvement of its 2012 Pirelli Star Driver, Jukka Korhonen, who will travel from his native Finland where he was competing on Rally Finland, round eight of the World Rally Championship. Korhonen made his competitive debut on asphalt in May when he finished second in class on the Jim Clark International Rally at the wheel of a TEG prepared Skoda Fabia R2.
Pirelli has provided motorsport students from Myerscough College with competition tyres for the Ford Fiesta R2 rally car they are building as part of their course. Based in Lancashire, northwest England, Myerscough College boasts seven motorsport workshops and several competition cars for the continuing development and expansion of motorsport teaching. The college believes that hands-on experience is an important aspect of learning and therefore encourages students to take part in a wide range of motorsport events throughout the UK.
The fourth round of the MSA British Rally Championship will take place in the Scottish Borders next week; the 41st running of the Jim Clark International Rally (1-3 June). Pirelli is tyre supplier to the championship, and will take a mixture of 15” to 17” RX7 and RE7 asphalt tyres to the fourth – and first all-asphalt – round of the UK’s premier rally series. The popularity of the Jim Clark International is underlined by Pirelli UK Motorsport’s operation manager, Matthew Corby: “Apart from Wales Rally GB – a round of the FIA World Rally Championship – the Jim Clark International Rally attracts the greatest number of spectators of any British rally.”
Famed for its ascent to World Rally Championship tyre supplier status alongside tyre Goliath, Michelin since the 2011 season, Chinese-manufactured brand Dmack, based in Cumbria in the north west of the UK, will begin to supply a full range of road-going passenger car tyre and a super single 385/65R22.5 truck tyre globally through appointed regional distribution partners in June. The company’s managing director Dick Cormack and sales and marketing director Shane Harding told Tyrepress.com that Dmack is seeking to capitalise on its status as “one of the fastest growing motorsport brands” to position itself as a “quality mid-range” product range, which includes an eco-friendly, a high performance product and a cold weather tyre.
Pirelli, Kumho and Dmack have announced that they will supply tyres to the 2013 MSA British Historic Rally Championship, following the competition’s move to an open choice era. Dunlop, the supplier to the UK’s premier historic rally series for the past four years will continue to make its tyres available to the championship, which takes in both gravel and asphalt events across the country. The championship features old-school rally machinery dating from the 1950s to the 1980s. “We firmly believe this is the right time to open up the tyre supply situation,” said championship manager Simon Marks. “More tyre manufacturers are now in a position to supply the historic market and our competitors will now be able to choose between four excellent suppliers.”
Northern Ireland’s Alastair Fisher has won the opening round of the 2012 FIA WRC Academy on Rally Portugal. Academy events are run exclusively on Pirelli rubber, and the Italian manufacturer supplied its K4 gravel tyre to deal with particularly tough conditions; the entire loop of three stages on Friday afternoon was cancelled following several delays in the morning caused by rain and mud. Pirelli’s WRC Academy tyre engineer Matteo Braga said: “The first round of the Academy was certainly filled with action, and conditions that go beyond what we would normally expect from this event. Even though the weather was extreme, the K4 tyres coped extremely well with some of the biggest challenges that they have ever faced.”
Following an inaugural season it has called “highly successful”, Pirelli will continue to support the FIA World Rally Championship Academy as the 2012 season gets underway at Vodafone Rally de Portugal later this week (29 March – 1 April). Pirelli will again provide its K4 tyre on gravel and its RX5 and RE7 tyre on asphalt to 13 rising stars and their co-drivers. The season will feature three gravel events: Portugal, Greece and Finland, followed by three asphalt events: Germany, France and Spain. Representing 11 countries worldwide, competitors will pilot identical Pirelli-branded Ford Fiesta R2s, each prepared by Cumbria’s M-Sport operation from a facility in Krakow, Poland.
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