RALLY OF CROATIA, THE NEW PIRELLI CINTURATO MAKES ITS DEBUT FOR THE SEASON OPENER ON ASPHALT

First appearance for wet-weather tyre evolution developed for Rally1 hybrid cars

In the Croatian race the P Zero Hard is the prime, while the soft version is the option

Testoni: “The grief for Craig is deep and shared by the whole Pirelli team: a friend and a champion has left us. Choosing the right tyre mix will be crucial in the Croatian race”

The Croatia Rally, tragically preceded by the fatal accident to Hyundai driver Craig Breen, opens the asphalt races of the WRC and JWRC season for the third year running and is the first opportunity for Pirelli Cinturato RWB WRC tyres to be put through their paces in official competition. The new wet-weather tyres are an evolution of the Cinturato RWB used in the 2021 and 2022 seasons and are intended exclusively for Rally1, while the other categories will continue to use the tyres currently fitted. After the gravel and asphalt tyres, the debut of the Pirelli Cinturato RWB WRCs completes the 2022 evolution of the Pirelli range destined for hybrid cars, characterised by greater weight and more torque.    

PIRELLI TYRES IN CROATIA   
The pitfalls of the tracks around the Croatian capital are numerous, although well known to drivers. The main ones are:

• The variability of the type of road surface with even significant differences in grip between one special stage and another;
• The presence of sections with uneven and weather-worn asphalt;
• The nature of the roads, which are fast but often narrow, with the possibility of worsening surfaces passage after passage;
• The rain, which can be both intermittent and copious at the same time,

THE TYRES AVAILABLE ARE:  
P Zero RA WRC: Pirelli's asphalt rally tyre is available in two compounds. For Croatia, the hard compound version (P Zero RA WRC HA) will be the prime, best suited to cope with the more abrasive dry road surfaces and longer stages, while the soft compound version (P Zero RA WRC SA) will be the option, to be preferred in the case of asphalts that are by their nature more slippery or made wet by rain and night frost.     

P Zero RA: this is the product line dedicated to Rally2 and Rally3 cars, and therefore used in both WRC2 and WRC3, as well as in the Junior WRC. The Rally 2 and Rally 3 products are different from each other in terms of sizes and compounds Here too there are hard compound versions (RA5A for Rally2 and RA5 for Rally3), which debuted last autumn in the Rally of Spain and in Croatia is the prime, and the soft compound version (RA7+B for Rally2 and RA7+ for Rally3). The P Zero RA tyres share many of the characteristics of the WRC tyres fitted on the top cars.     

Cinturato RW: all four-wheel-drive categories now have a rain tyre suitable for wet or very wet asphalts. The new Cinturato RWB WRC is only available for Rally1 cars. Rally2 use RWB version of Cinturato, while Rally3 cars use the RW1C compound.     

The regulations state that each Rally1 car can mount a total of up to 28 tyres during the entire race, including four for the shakedown. The allocations are 28 tyres for the prime P Zero RA WRC HA, 18 for the option P Zero RA WRC SA and 12 for the Cinturato RWB wet weather tyres. Cars in the WRC2 and WRC3 categories (hence also the Junior) can use up to 26 tyres. The allocation in this case is 26 tyres for the prime, 18 for the option, 12 for the wet.     

PIRELLI QUOTE     
Terenzio Testoni, rally activity manager: "First of all I would like to express once again the Pirelli rally team's deepest condolences for the accident to Craig: It is a human and sporting tragedy, which deprives all of us of a friend and a champion, brought up with the Pirelli Star Driver programme. Over the past few years the drivers have had ample proof of how demanding Croatian roads can be, which present a mix of different surfaces and conditions that change profoundly even within the same leg, making tyre management a decisive factor. For each crew it will be the search for grip that will be the real challenge, to which are added the unknowns of the weather which, as happened last year, can upset everyone's initial plans. The type of tyres available are such that they cover every need, including extreme wet weather conditions: choosing the right combination will be the key to victory".