24 Hours Of Maximum Stress And Not Only For The Tyres

Milan, 13 June 2005 - The "24 Hours of Le Mans" is one of the most distinguished events in the motor racing world, one in which Pirelli has competed since time immemorial. The Milan-based tyre manufacturer will provide its support to top teams with an optimum chance of acquitting themselves well in various classes in the 2005 race, which will take place on 18 and 19 June. The legendary French endurance race will see Pirelli Competizioni's men providing their service, competence and know-how to squads entered in three of the four categories permitted by the Le Mans regulations. During test days, which began in early June, Pirelli saw the teams it supports take top positions among the Prototypes of the LMP2 and Grand Touring GT2 classes and set highly respectable times in the GT1 category. Among the LMP2s (class 2 Prototypes), the Courage-Judd of Britons Mullen-Bennett-Mitchell put up the third fastest time overall, and was the best of the French constructor's many two-seaters at Le Mans. Even more relevant was the performance of the works Panoz Elan, fitted with P Zero tyres and driven by Auberlen-Liddell-Maxwell, who were second overall at only 14 tenths of a second from the fastest time set in class 2 of the Grand Touring category (GT2), comprising no fewer than 14 crews driving the cars of five different marques. In the top class of the Grand Touring category (GT1), BMS-Scuderia Italia - winners of the 2003 and 2004 FIA-GT team and drivers' championships - took part in the preparatory sessions for the 2005 24 Hours eight years after it last competed at Le Mans. Although making its debut in the French marathon in the GT1 class, the Lombardy team's Ferrari 550 Maranellos entered for Gollin-Pescatori-Ramos and Bartyan-Seiler-Malucelli adapted well to the characteristics of the Sarthe circuit and will be competing in their first 24 hour endurance race on Pirelli tyres, who also support BMS-Scuderia Italia in the Le Mans Endurance Series and the Italian GT Championship. Pierluigi De Cancellis, Pirelli Competizioni's Circuit manager underlines how "the excellent performance of the Courage-Judd and the Panoz Elan confirms the competitiveness of the P Zero range at Le Mans. That result assumes even greater significance if one considers that none of the cars on Pirelli used qualifying tyres. The two BMS-Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranellos, in particular, exploited the two days of testing well in an effort to find useful reference information with which to prepare themselves in the best possible way for the race. An event that is certainly selective, in which it is basic to find the right equilibrium between aerodynamics and set-up. Le Mans is also extremely harsh on tyres: they have to absorb the mechanical stress generated by centrifugal force and high speed and the notable aerodynamic lift necessary to provide a high level of adhesion both when cornering and on the long straights. On the other hand, it is precisely by taking those aspects into account that we have developed soft compounds for the Pirelli P Zero tyres to be fitted to the GT1 and GT2 cars competing in the 2005 24 Hours of Le Mans".