FIA-GT: Pirelli ready to take on the unknown Istanbul's race

Milan, 15 September 2005 - A completely new circuit to FIA-GT Championship competitors, the new Istanbul track will host the season's eighth race in this interesting international series. Fortified by its two 1-2 finishes at Spa-Francorchamps and Oschersleben with the Maserati MC12, Pirelli is ready to take on the circuit, which is unknown to the majority of competitors entered for the Turkish counter in the championship. In fact, with the exception of local ace Can Artam, who will share the cockpit of Philipp Peter's Maserati MC12 on P Zero Racing, no other driver knows the Istanbul track. However, from the purely technical point of view, Pierluigi De Cancellis, the Pirelli Competizioni circuit manager says, " The smooth, polished surface of Istanbul demands a considerable amount of grip, while the long left hand bends and slow hairpins will certainly put the tyres under stress. The most severely affected will be those on the front axle, due to the violent braking and understeer needed in the mixed sections of the track". Fabio Babini, Pirelli's official test driver and brilliant winner of the FIA-GT race at Oschersleben, in Germany, in the P Zero-shod Vitaphone's Maserati MC12 said, " The teams must find the right compromise between optimum adhesion and a high and consistent yield, preparing their cars' set-ups in such a way that they are as agile in the slow sections as they are stable in the fast sectors, which are the essential qualities on the tract opposite the pit straight, for instance. Personally, I am confident, even though I have no precise knowledge of the circuit, as it seems to me to be a track that suits cars with mid-engines like the Maserati MC12, a well equilibrated two-seater that best exploits the Pirelli P Zero in all circumstances, as we have seen in the races that have taken place so far". At the circuit, which is over an hour by car from Istanbul, Pirelli Competizioni will provide the teams that use Pirelli P Zero with tyres built ad hoc for each car, but with the medium-soft compound as the common denominator, as it is more suited to the configuration of the track and the heat in which the Turkish race will probably be run. De Cancellis notes, " Pirelli will take a tyre of new construction for the front axle of the GPC Corse Ferrari, which should further improve the driveability of the 575 GTC. However, among the fundamental factors in competing at Istanbul will be the indispensable ability to limit tyre wear, especially the fronts". For more information and pictures on Pirelli's motorsport activities visit: www.pirellicompetizioni.com