Comforting Overall Result For Pirelli at 50th Tour De Corse

Ajaccio, 9 April 2006 - All things considered, Pirelli's 2006 Tour de Corse result is comforting. The factory Subaru Imprezas made a slow but constant recovery and the Pirelli-liveried Peugeot went straight into the top ten with Gigi Galli, despite his lack of knowledge of the car and the need to find an ideal set-up between the latest evolution Pirelli P Zero tyres and the 307 WRC prepared by Bozian. These are the objective results to note at the end of the French rally, which has always been among the most severe in the world championship. Stphane Sarrazin, Subaru official driver and tarmac specialist for Pirelli Competizioni, said, "I am comforted by the progress shown both as far as the Subaru and the latest evolution of the Pirelli P Zeros are concerned. There is clearly more work to do, but in my opinion we are on the right road in our return to the top". Stphane, who came eighth overall, was the best placed Pirelli driver on the leader board, preceding Gigi Galli, who made non-stop progress after a cautious first leg. As mentioned, the Italian was getting to know the Peugeot as he raced, improving his times stage after stage. He said, "Overall, I am pleased with my placing, even if I could perhaps have further improved if I had more experience of the car. Anyway, we progressed in both performance and the development of the P Zeros, all to the advantage of the substantial commitment of Pirelli to the improvement of their asphalt tyres". Mario Isola, Pirelli Competizioni's Rally Manager, had this to say about the Tour de Corse result, "We are very pleased with Galli's performance. We agreed together that he should not attack at the beginning as he had to find the right cohesion with the P Zero-fitted 307 and understand the differences made by modifications in the car's set-up and handling overall. The improvement is significant, because he pushed harder, especially on the repeated stages after having memorised the parameters useful to the full exploitation of the Peugeot. He was as fast as the other drivers with a similar car, sometimes even faster, although he is short of experience with the car and of the rally. We are sure that, also in Subaru Imprezas' case, the progress shown by Sarrazin and Solberg augers well for the future, especially because we are convinced of the competitiveness of our gravel's Pirelli P Zero developed for rallies like Argentina and Italy". Tour de Corse's final classification, WRC 2006 Event nr. 05: 1. Loeb (Citron) 3h43'05''4 2. Grnholm (Ford) +29''0 3. Sordo (Citron) +1'19''7 8. Sarrazin (Subaru) +5'21''9 9. Galli (Peugeot) +5'42''5 … 11.Solberg (Subaru) +6'40''5 13.Atkinson (Subaru) +14'57''1 For more information and pictures on Pirelli's motorsport activities visit: www.pirellicompetizioni.com