Fia-GT: Pirelli in China to win again

Milan, 13 October 2005 - Pirelli is to return to China and the track on which it won with the Maserati MC12 last year, convinced it will be able to extend the list of positive results it has built in recent months - mainly from the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps - when cars on Pirelli tires scored three consecutive victories. In addition, the Ferrari 575 GTC Maranello of GPC Corse has constantly and substantially improved its performance, so much so that it took pole-position in Turkey last September, driven by the Italo-Swiss crew of Andrea Piccini and Jean-Denis Deletraz. The protagonist of Istanbul in the Ferrari 575 GTC, Andrea Piccini, says, " Typical sections of the track, which is an hour from Hong Kong, are in a form and structure that demands decisive braking and repeated acceleration, in the stifling heat that hangs over the circuit like an oppressive dome, making the efforts of the drivers, tyres and cars even more taxing". Pirelli will not be taking special developments of its P Zero Racing tyres to Zhuhai, partly because, as Pirelli Competizioni's Circuit Manager, engineer Pierluigi De Cancellis, explains, " The characteristics of the track enable us to best exploit the tyres we have amply tried and tested. That is due to the fact that the Chinese circuit is not the most recent but it is little used, for which the asphalt offers reasonable torque without being too abrasive. Pirelli can be cautiously optimistic, because we can count on extremely competitive tyres and have a great deal of faith in the teams and drivers competing on P Zero Racing in an event that will certainly be demanding." De Cancellis added, " While the brakes and transmissions will be the components most under stress on the cars in China, the tyres supplied by Pirelli will offer the teams soft or medium-soft compounds for both the dry and wet, as always in relation to a reasonable level of the adhesion from the Zhuhai asphalt, dry weather and heat in which the race will, presumably, be run on Sunday 23 October".