“Turkey is one of the most important events of the year for us, as we have had our production facility at Izmit for more than 50 years now,” says motorsports director Paul Hembery.
From Istanbul onward into the racing season, the company’s debut P Zero editions will carry new and more prominent color markings on the sidewalls. Turkey also marks the opening round of the GP2 and GP3 championships, which will also be exclusively supplied by Pirelli over the next three years.
“We’re looking forward to seeing our new evolution of the hard compound tire on-track in Turkey on Friday,” says Maurizio Boiocchi, the tire maker’s research and development director.
“At Pirelli, we don’t believe in standing still so, in collaboration with the teams, we’re always working on new evolutions of the tires that we hope will benefit the sport throughout the year,” he reports.
“If we see the results that we expect from this life-sized test of the new tire, our aim will be to use it at the next race in Barcelona. This tire will provide less degradation and so we expect it to last longer, but the warm-up time will also be a little longer and there will be less grip,” Boiocchi says.
“Istanbul Park should provide the tires with one of their toughest tests of the year,” explains Hemery, “because of the high-speed corners, abrasive and bumpy surfaces and huge forces that act on the cars.
Pirelli will additionally be contining its comeback to international open-wheel racing when both of the 2011 Formula One “feeder series” – GP2 and GP3 – get underway during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend festivities.
Following the requests of the GP2 and GP3 Series organizers, Pirelli has specifically designed tires capable of higher performance with less durability. “These new features are intended to not only spice up the on- track action, but also to help drivers learn how to look after their rubber by driving smoothly – a skill that will be vital for their future careers,” Hembery says.
“These young drivers have had a taste of the new P Zero rubber during the recently concluded pre-season tests, with the Italian tires performing faultlessly in a wide range of weather and track conditions,” he adds.
“Our new Pirelli tires are absolutely ready for GP2 and GP3 competition, and so we’ve collected some very positive impressions from drivers and teams during testing and racing,” Hembery continues.
“Just like Formula One, the GP2 and GP3 organizers specifically asked Pirelli to design tires with variable durability, because tire management is crucial for any driver’s career and it also adds an extra element of intrigue to the racing,” he notes.
“In a one-make single-seater series with identical cars and set ups, it’s the driver that makes the difference. I believe that the features we have built into our new Pirelli tires will really highlight young talent and help all these up and coming drivers to improve their racing skills,” says Hembery.
For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.
