Maserati and Pirelli win Big in China

MC 12s and P Zeros Score a 1-2 in the Final FIA GT Race of the 2004 Season

Rome, Georgia, November 16, 2004 - Last weekend, more than 20,000 racing fans journeyed to the Zhuhai International Circuit, situated in the fast-growing city of the same name, which faces the Chinese Southern Sea. These Chinese enthusiasts attended the last round of the FIA GT 2004 Championship, and they witnessed the Pirelli-shod Maserati MC 12 of Mika Salo and Andrea Bertolini take the overall win. This was the second victory in four races since the car made its debut and the first in which the FIA allowed the all-new Maserati to earn points.
The victory was all the sweeter because the second AF Corse Maserati MC 12 of Fabrizio de Simone and Johnny Herbert finished right behind the Salo/Bertolini car, giving the team its first 1-2 finish. Nineteen GT cars started, but, only the Bobbi/Gardel Ferrari 550 managed to challenge the Maseratis during the three-hour race..

After the race Mika Salo commented: " We are very pleased to have achieved these first points for Maserati. We also want to thank Pirelli for providing us with great tires that allowed us to carry out a double stint during the first part of the race, allowing us to earn precious seconds against the Ferrari 550."
The Maserati MC 12s used a new Pirelli P Zero front tire at Zhuhai. These tires and the P Zeros run by some of the other competitors were the model of consistency during the entire weekend. During the race warm-up, the first six cars were all Pirelli equipped.
It was also a great weekend for Pirelli in the N-GT class. The GPC Giesse Squadra Corse Ferrari 360 of Christian Pescatori and Jaime Melo qualified first and took the win over a contingent of very competitive Porsches.
Pirelli Tire North America specializes in the manufacture and marketing of high performance car, light truck and motorcycle tires and currently has three of its highly advanced MIRS (Modular Integrated Robotized System) modules in operation in a new factory near Atlanta, Georgia, to better serve the American OEM and Replacement markets. For more information visit the companys web site at www.us.pirelli.com.