CENTRAL EUROPE RALLY, P ZERO SOFT FIRST CHOICE FOR A RACE TO BE DISCOVERED
The hard ones are the options. Cinturato wet weather tyres also available
The road surfaces are expected to be different in the three countries touched by the rally. In common they have technicality and speed
Testoni: "It will be interesting to see the race strategies. Watch out for the weather, which could complicate things"
The world rally returns after years of absence in Germany, although in "cohabitation" with the Czech Republic and Austria, for a race to be discovered, full of unknowns, no less than the previous one in Chile, which reserved several surprises.
THE CHALLENGE
What is known is that the asphalts of the three countries on which the Central European Rally will be run are relatively different from each other with a prevalence of slipperiness for the Czech ones, protagonists in the first stages, of high speed for the Austrian ones, staged on Saturday, and of tortuosity for the German ones.
What all the tracks have in common is that they are technical, generally very fast and presumably cold and humid,with temperatures expected between 10 and 15 degrees, as well as being generally characterized by poor grip due to slippery and dirty asphalts. The weather reports rain on Friday with a tendency for improvement over the rest of the weekend.
It is no coincidence that the prime tires for this first Central European rally will be the soft-compound P Zero RA WRC, the most suitable for the lower temperatures and for dealing with asphalts that are by their nature slippery or made so by rain and humidity. A key role could also be played by the wet tires, which are always available in asphalt races.
PIRELLI QUOTE
Terenzio Testoni, rally activity manager: “Such a test so uncertain in strategies and outcome, falls all in all at the right point of the season. In Chile The Championship crowned the winning Team of the season, but the fight for the drivers' title still remains open with two races to go. It will be interesting to see how the various crews and teams choose to approach the rally and who will go on the attack and who will choose caution. The return of Sebastian Ogier also puts even more salt to this race and raises the level of the challenge. From a tire point of view, I see a race under the banner of the P Zero soft and the Cinturato wet tires, which will take the lead in the rain.”
PIRELLI TIRES FOR CENTRAL EUROPEAN RALLY
P Zero RA WRC: Pirelli's asphalt rally tire is available in two compounds. For IL CER, the first choice will be the SOFT compound version (P Zero RA WRC SA), while the option is the hard compound (P Zero RA WRC HA), designed to cope with the more abrasive road surfaces and longer stages.
P Zero RWB WRC: the rally tire for wet and damp asphalt
P Zero RA: is the product line dedicated to Rally2 and Rally3 cars, thus used in both WRC2 and WRC3. Again, hard compound (RA5A), and soft compound (RA7+B, the first in this race) versions are available. The P Zero RA tires share many of the characteristics of the WRC tires fitted on the first-tier cars.
Cinturato RW: All all-wheel-drive categories have available a rain tire suitable for wet or very wet asphalts. The Cinturato RWB is available for Rally1 and Rally2 cars, while Rally3 cars use the Cinturato RW1C compound.
The regulations state that each Rally1 car can mount a total of up to 28 tires throughout the race including the 4 for the shakedown, the compound of which is the choice of each crew. The allocations are 28 tires for the first P Zero RA WRC SA, 18 for the option P Zero RA WRC HA and 12 for the Cinturato RWB wet weather tires. Cars in the WRC2 and WRC3 categories can use up to 26 tires. The allocation in this case is 26 tires for prime, 18 for option, 12 for wet.