Fia-Gt: Pirelli Triumphs In China With Five Cars In The First Six

Zhuhai, China, October 23, 2005 - The Pirelli-shod Corvette C5R scored its second victory of the season with a conservative drive on the demanding Zhuhai circuit after its brilliant win at Imola in May. Having set the third fastest time in qualifying, the winning trio of Longin-Hezemans-Kumpen took command of the race in the early stages after leaders Bouchut in the Aston Martin and Lamy in the Ferrari went off. After moving into the lead, the American coup exploited its P Zero Racing tires and vehicle's limited fuel consumption well, with a strategy of two pit stops which turned out to be the right one. Behind the Corvette and the Ferrari driven by Gardel-Lamy (who climbed up through the field after the spin) came four cars on Pirelli: the Maserati MC12s of Scheider-Bartels and Babini-Biagi, Piccini-Deletraz's Ferrari 575 GTC and Bertolini- Wendlinger in a third MC12, fifth at the end but able to safeguard their lead in the drivers' classification. Bert Longin, who drove one of the best races of the season, was naturally elated by this second Corvette victory and said, "We ran a perfect race without committing the slightest error and exploited the tires Pirelli supplied for this gruelling track in the best possible way. It is logical that racing with only 10 kilos of ballast in relation to a full 100 kg aboard the Maseratis notably facilitated out task, but we worked well throughout the whole weekend and this success is a worthy acknowledgement of our efforts". Thomas Biagi, who came fourth in the #10 Maserati MC12, remarked, "The consistent performance of the P Zero Racing slicks throughout the entire race ensured our car did not lose contact with the leader. However, the 100 kilos of ballast with which we had to compete did not allow us to go hunting for the Corvette or to resist the pressure exerted on us toward the end by Lamy, who was not carrying a single gram of excess weight." Pierluigi De Cancellis, Circuit Manager for Pirelli Competizioni commented, "We are obviously satisfied with the results achieved by the Pirelli teams in China: they have confirmed the high competitiveness of the P Zeros racing in difficult conditions like those here at Zhuhai, especially from the point of view of the tremendous heat, which we will also find in Dubai and Bahrain." Final classification - Zhuhai FIA-GT 2005: 1. Hezemans-Kumpen-Longin (Corvette C5R), 110 giri in 3h 00'21''567 2. Gardel-Lamy (Ferrari 550 Maranello), +7''160 3. Scheider-Bartels (Maserati MC12), +1'19''589 4. Babini-Biagi (Maserati MC12), +1'23''356 5. Piccini-Deletraz (Ferrari 575 GTC), +1 giro 6. Wendlinger-Bertolini (Maserati MC12), +1 giro For more information and pictures on Pirelli's motorsport activities visit: www.pirellicompetizioni.com