Pirelli has partnered with Porsche for a full-on assault on this weekend’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Hill-climb and road rally specialist Jeff Zwart will be piloting a factory-supported Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car equipped with P Zero racing tires.
The P Zeros that Zwart will use for his record-run attempt up Pikes’ paved and gravel course are the same wet-weather Pirellis that populate the Grand-Am Rolex Series GT ranks.
“Having the opportunity to work with Porsche Motorsports North America and top talent Jeff Zwart at Pikes Peak is an integral part of the continuing technical partnership with Porsche in North American sports car racing the last few years,” says Rafael Navarro III, director of motorsports and media relations.
“To take this collective experience and apply the same road race-winning Pirelli P Zero and Porsche 911 GT3 Cup package to an entirely new discipline is the type of challenge that Pirelli has embraced throughout its more than 100 years of winning success in motorsports,” he points out.
“We have considered this for a while, and to run the hill with Jeff Zwart is a great chance to put his driving skills with our product,” says Paul Ritchie, president and CEO of Porsche Motorsport North America.
“Our engineers and technicians chose the new 3.8 liter engine to match Jeff's 2007 Cup car and low ratio gearbox. Engine mapping was modified for the altitude and the ride height, suspension and underbody protection were modified for this rally-type event,” Ritchie reports.
“The suspension changes also accommodate the outstanding Pirelli P Zero rain tires, which worked exceptionally well during testing,” he explains. “Pre-race tests suggest that the 911 GT3 Cup car fitted with Pirelli tires could be a winning combination for Jeff.”
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is the second oldest motorsports race in America, behind only the Indianapolis 500. It is a long-standing tradition in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region. First contested in 1916 – this year marks the 88th running of the “Race to the Clouds.”
The actual competition takes place on Sunday, June 27; event-related festivities have been going on all week.
The race is run on a 12.42-mile course with 156 turns that begins at 9,390 feet and finishes at the 14,110-foot summit, which is known as “America’s Mountain.”
Zwart’s Pirelli-shod Porsche will compete in the Time Attack division against a variety of other two-wheel drive and some four-wheel drive vehicles, and the experienced hill climb and rally driver is highly enthusiastic about both the car and the tires upon which it will ride.
“Using a Pirelli P Zero that was designed for wet-weather competition on a paved road course has proven to be the ideal selection for Pikes Peak,” Zwart says.
“In testing I was very happy not just with the performance of the tire but also the wear, which I understand is a common attribute of the Pirellis in paved competition as well,” he notes.
“In previous years, I have always taken a street Porsche Turbo and converted it into a race car, but this time, with the help of Porsche and Pirelli, we have taken a race track car and modified it for the unique Pikes Peak half tarmac-half gravel course.”
Zwart has won his class at Pikes Peak – all in Porsche Turbo street cars – in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2004, setting new class records three times. Most recently, he co-drove a Porsche Cayenne with Pikes Peak veteran Paul Dallenbach at the challenging TransSiberia Rally (Moscow to Mongolia) in 2007. He also has an SCCA Pro Rally Championship (1990) and a SCORE Baja 1000 class win (2004) to his credit.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
