Equipped exclusively with Pirelli tires, the fourth round of the inaugural GP3 series took place at Silverstone over the weekend on the British circuit’s revised track layout for the first time. With seven new corners, both lap length and average speed have been increased.
Pirelli’s hard-compound tires made their debut on the track this year after Pirelli had used medium-compound rubber at the first two GP3 rounds in Barcelona and Istanbul, followed by soft-compound tires at Valencia.
The new hard compound Pirelli P Zero 13-inch tire proved to be both fast and reliable at Silverstone despite a wide variety of weather conditions that accurately reflected the vagaries of the British climate, according to Rafael Navarro III, director of motorsports and media relations.
Saturday’s race was held in dry and warm conditions, with temperatures in the region of 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Esteban Gutierrez dominated the feature race by taking pole position for the second consecutive time and sealing his third win of the season by 3.6 seconds from Rio Haryanto and Nico Muller.
On Sunday the weather was cloudy and much cooler with temperatures of about 64.4 degrees F., increasing the time it took to get the hard-compound tires up to ideal operating temperature.
Daniel Morad took his first GP3 victory, while the crowds enjoyed a huge battle between Mirko Bortolotti and Gutierrez for the remaining podium places. The pair fought hard but fairly, with their Pirelli tires allowing them both “to push to the very limit,” Navarro reports.
“We’re very pleased with the debut of our hard-compound P Zero GP3 tire at Silverstone, particularly because it performed consistently within a very wide range of conditions,” says racing manager Mario Isola.
“We were privileged to witness some of the best racing we have seen all year, with the battle between Mirko and Esteban forming a special highlight,” he explains. “Interestingly, there was a lot of carbon fiber debris on the track this year, which meant that we saw a number of tires that had suffered deep cuts to the tread pattern. Despite this, the tires performed perfectly: underlining the reliability as well as the performance of our P Zero rubber.”
At the halfway point of the season Gutierrez leads the championship with 51 points while his ART team mate Alexander Rossi is back up to second via a 25-points tally. The ART squad also leads the teams’ championship.
The next two races of the eight-round GP3 series take place at the July 24-25 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Pirelli was recently confirmed as the exclusive tire supplier for Formula One next year, along with the GP2 and GP3 circuits.
“In this way, future generations of drivers will benefit from a Pirelli-backed ladder of talent designed to take them all the way to the very top of the sport,” says Isola.
Also over the weekend, Sebastien Loeb, won the 220.03 miles of Rally Bulgaria in Borovets to clinch round seven of the 2010 World Rally Championship – of which Pirelli is the also the exclusive tire supplier under a three-year agreement.
Loeb, has now extended his lead in the world championship to 51 points, opted for the soft-compound P Zero for all of Saturday’s six stages to counter the threat of showers. While it proved a wise move for the Citroen C4 racer on Saturday morning, “it was less inspired in the afternoon when it remained dry,” Navarro recounts.
“We expected some rain, so it was a safety decision because when you have water on the road the soft-compound tire is much better,” says Loeb. “If it’s dry we knew it would not be the best choice but we did not lose too much time because the grip under braking was still good when we used the soft compound tire on a dry surface, although we could not be so quick through the corners because we have less lateral grip and you have to find a different rhythm for that.”
Loeb’s victory was his 58th at world championship level, the 22nd time he had triumphed in the WRC using Pirelli tires and his seventh win on asphalt with Pirelli’s rubber underneath.
It was the threat of unpredictable weather that made the availability of the soft-compound Pirelli P Zero tire essential for the competing crews, according to Navarro. On gravel events, WRC regulations restrict drivers to a pre-determined compound of Pirelli’s Scorpion tire. On asphalt, they can choose between the hard- (for dry conditions) or soft- (for wet conditions) compound P Zero, albeit with a restriction of 40 tires in total.
In Bulgaria, they had an allocation of 34 hard-compound tires and 24 soft-compounds – eight more than usual following reports of possible thunderstorms.
While the event was held in largely dry conditions, overnight showers and precipitation during Saturday morning’s opening stages forced competitors to choose between the hard- and soft-compound tires and dramatically increased the challenge due to the inconsistent surfaces.
Both types of compound use an identical tread pattern, designed to provide maximum contact with the road, but the soft version is engineered to provide more grip and stability when conditions are cold and damp, while the hard provides optimum performance when the weather is warm and the road surface dry, Navarro reports.
In the past, Pirelli engineers would have developed a tire specifically for competition and for different levels of rainfall. But because the FIA specified that the asphalt tires had to conform to everyday road use regulations, the P Zero WRC is virtually identical to the tires available for members of the public, albeit with even stronger sidewalls to combat the threat of punctures. Nevertheless, Loeb was quick to praise the performance of the P Zeros.
“It’s been the perfect rally for me and very good for the championship,” says Loeb. “I am happy with the performance of the tires and I was surprised that the soft was as good as it was in dry conditions when, for sure, it was not the best choice.”
Rally Bulgaria also marked the debut of Pirelli’s new RX tire for use by Junior World Rally Championship competitors in place of the old RS design. Using the same technology incorporated into the 18-inch RX tire, Pirelli has produced 17- and 16-inch versions to give the competitors in the young-driver class more precision, reaction, durability and consistency – particularly on some of the longer stages (the Batak Lake stage run twice on Day One measured 19.74 miles in length) on the rally route.
“The tire was working very well,” says Thierry Neuville, who claimed his maiden win in the JWRC class in a Citroen C2 S1600. “(We) had a very good feeling and there is not much difference between how the tire looked at the start and finish of the long stages. It’s very good work by Pirelli,” he adds.
“We are very satisfied with how this rally has gone for us,” observes Matteo Braga, Pirelli’s senior WRC tire engineer. “It is a new rally and the first round of the WRC on tarmac this season so there was increased expectation. The teams are now clear about how the soft and hard tires perform in different conditions, and this is very important,” he notes.
“Also, Petter Solberg used the same set of tires on Friday’s stages, which covered (74.56 miles), and this shows the durability of the tire is very good,” Braga continues. “We’ve seen no tire damage or punctures, although there were some junior drivers who had problems by cutting corners and hitting rocks, which broke rims rather than the tire.”
The World Rally Championship resumes July 29-31 in Finland.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
