Pirelli's P Zero rain tires help racers power through downpour

Heavy rains soaked the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Road Course at New Jersey Motorsports Park during the May 3 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Verizon Wireless 250. The inclement weather necessitated that the entire field of Daytona Prototype class and GT class teams run the whole 2 ¾-hour race on Pirelli P Zero Racing Rains – a treaded tire designed to provide greater control in wet conditions.

Teams encountered myriad wet weather issues during the race, including broken windshield wipers, fogged up windows and a variety of spins and off-course incidents. Rainy conditions and standing water on the track combined to create the most challenging wet-weather racing for Pirelli’s Grand-Am efforts since becoming the series’ Official Tire last season.

“The Pirellis performed fantastic the whole event,” says No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola driver Nic Jonsson, who co-drove to overall victory in his Daytona Prototype with teammate Ricardo Zonta. “The rain tires performed great the whole time. I don’t know if that had anything to do with our car, but it was a very good performance. The Pirelli tires really performed well today, so we are really pleased with that.”

The victory was the first for former Formula 1 driver Zonta and legendary chassis constructor Lola in Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype competition.

“The Pirellis were very consistent,” says Zonta, who drove more than an hour in green-flag conditions at the end of the race. “I was a little bit worried because I didn’t know how many laps to go to the end and it was drying up. I tried to follow a bit more damp line to cool down the tires, but the Pirellis were very consistent, especially with our car.”

The winning Krohn Ford Lola joined the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle and third-place finishers Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless/Penske Racing Porsche Riley on the podium. All three teams led the race for at least 10 laps, with the Krohn Ford Lola up front for a race-high 52 laps.

In GT racing, several top Porsche teams used Pirelli rain tires to shine in the wet weather. Dirk Werner and Leh Keen scored the class victory in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 and were joined on the podium by their teammates Bryan Sellers and Eric Lux in the identical No. 85 Porsche that finished second. The Farnbacher Loles Porsches were split by the similar No. 66 AXA/Mitchell Rubber TRG Porsche GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly and Ted Ballou that finished second.

“With the conditions how they were, the Pirellis really gave us a good grip on the track,” says former Rolex Series GT Champion Werner. “We were in a good position with a good car so, really, everything worked perfect for us.”

Keen was also part of the Farnbacher Loles team that won in the rain at Mid-Ohio last year.

“When we came in the Pirellis were perfect, absolutely perfect,” Keen says. “They had great grip, obviously for us, and we really didn’t stretch them out too much. They worked well with the car.”

Keen and Sellers both believe they could have run the entire race on a single set of the company’s tires.

“For us, the Pirellis were good,” says Sellers, who prevailed in a close battle with No. 67 TRG Porsche GT3 driver Andy Lally for third place in the race’s late stages. “We knew we needed a lot of rain to kind of make it work for what we were shooting for, and fortunately we had a significant amount of rain until the very last couple of laps. We probably could have done the whole race on one set of tires. It was all good for us.”

Next up for Pirelli and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is the May 15-17 Verizon Wireless Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in California. The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT) on Sunday, May 17.

Heavy rains soaked the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Road Course at New Jersey Motorsports Park during the May 3 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Verizon Wireless 250. The inclement weather necessitated that the entire field of Daytona Prototype class and GT class teams run the whole 2 ¾-hour race on Pirelli P Zero Racing Rains – a treaded tire designed to provide greater control in wet conditions.

Teams encountered myriad wet weather issues during the race, including broken windshield wipers, fogged up windows and a variety of spins and off-course incidents. Rainy conditions and standing water on the track combined to create the most challenging wet-weather racing for Pirelli’s Grand-Am efforts since becoming the series’ Official Tire last season.

“The Pirellis performed fantastic the whole event,” says No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola driver Nic Jonsson, who co-drove to overall victory in his Daytona Prototype with teammate Ricardo Zonta. “The rain tires performed great the whole time. I don’t know if that had anything to do with our car, but it was a very good performance. The Pirelli tires really performed well today, so we are really pleased with that.”

The victory was the first for former Formula 1 driver Zonta and legendary chassis constructor Lola in Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype competition.

“The Pirellis were very consistent,” says Zonta, who drove more than an hour in green-flag conditions at the end of the race. “I was a little bit worried because I didn’t know how many laps to go to the end and it was drying up. I tried to follow a bit more damp line to cool down the tires, but the Pirellis were very consistent, especially with our car.”

The winning Krohn Ford Lola joined the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle and third-place finishers Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless/Penske Racing Porsche Riley on the podium. All three teams led the race for at least 10 laps, with the Krohn Ford Lola up front for a race-high 52 laps.

In GT racing, several top Porsche teams used Pirelli rain tires to shine in the wet weather. Dirk Werner and Leh Keen scored the class victory in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3 and were joined on the podium by their teammates Bryan Sellers and Eric Lux in the identical No. 85 Porsche that finished second. The Farnbacher Loles Porsches were split by the similar No. 66 AXA/Mitchell Rubber TRG Porsche GT3 of Spencer Pumpelly and Ted Ballou that finished second.

“With the conditions how they were, the Pirellis really gave us a good grip on the track,” says former Rolex Series GT Champion Werner. “We were in a good position with a good car so, really, everything worked perfect for us.”

Keen was also part of the Farnbacher Loles team that won in the rain at Mid-Ohio last year.

“When we came in the Pirellis were perfect, absolutely perfect,” Keen says. “They had great grip, obviously for us, and we really didn’t stretch them out too much. They worked well with the car.”

Keen and Sellers both believe they could have run the entire race on a single set of the company’s tires.

“For us, the Pirellis were good,” says Sellers, who prevailed in a close battle with No. 67 TRG Porsche GT3 driver Andy Lally for third place in the race’s late stages. “We knew we needed a lot of rain to kind of make it work for what we were shooting for, and fortunately we had a significant amount of rain until the very last couple of laps. We probably could have done the whole race on one set of tires. It was all good for us.”

Next up for Pirelli and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is the May 15-17 Verizon Wireless Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in California. The race can be seen live on the Speed Channel at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT) on Sunday, May 17.