Pirelli continued its return to open-wheel racing in the second round of the inaugural GP3 Series, held at Istanbul Park in Turkey.
The GP3 championship was launched this year as the springboard to GP2, which is widely acknowledged as the established route to Formula One.
Having gotten off to a successful start in Barcelona – where the tire maker’s distinctive yellow trucks were seen in a Grand Prix paddock for the first time in 20 years – the series continued in Turkey. It’s a significant location for Pirelli, as the Italian firm’s main competitor’s tires are made in Izmit, just an hour away from Istanbul.
Istanbul Park and hosted round seven of this year’s Formula One World Championship, giving the 30 talented youngsters who compete in GP3 the chance to display their abilities in front of some of the most influential people in motorsports. With identical Renault-engined Dallara chassis producing 280 horsepower, the accent is firmly on driving performance, according to Mario Isola, Pirelli’s racing manager.
The medium-compound P Zero 13-inch GP3 tires were identical to the tires that had been used in Barcelona. Conditions were dry and warm for both GP3 races, which were held on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, lasting half an hour each. “Throughout both races the new Pirelli tires performed perfectly, providing excellent grip and reliability while teaching the young drivers how best to manage their rubber,” says Isola.
ART driver Esteban Gutierrez dominated Saturday’s first race by surging past pole-sitter Nigel Melker before extending his lead lap by lap and eventually winning by 10.5 seconds ahead of Manor’s James Jakes.
In the second race on Sunday morning, Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto of the Manor team started from the pole on a reversed grid and eventually won over MW Arden’s Miki Monras and ART’s Alexander Rossi.
“Here in Istanbul Park we experienced much more extreme conditions than we found in Barcelona earlier this month, with air temperatures in the region of 32 to 33 degrees centigrade (90-91 degrees F) and track temperatures of up to 50 degrees centigrade (122 degrees F),” Isola reports.
“Despite these conditions,” he adds, the tires “were reliable with a consistent wear rate, proving their suitability to a wide range of temperatures. I think we still need to build in a slightly greater degree of artificial degradation, in order to make the cars slide more, but we have a constant dialogue with the championship organizers and the flexibility to adapt the tires from race to race.”
The next two events of the nine-round GP3 Series take place at the June 25-27 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain.
For more information, visit www.us.pireli.com.
