New Pirelli P Zero tyres for 2017 Blancpain GT Series

New Pirelli P Zero tyres for 2017 Blancpain GT Series

Pirelli will once again be sole tyre supplier for the 2017 Blancpain GT Series, which commences at Misano in Italy this weekend. Misano is a sprint round of the championship, meaning that there will be an hour-long qualifying race in the dark on Saturday at 20:50, followed by the hour-long main race on Sunday at 14:15. What's the circuit like? Located close to Bologna in central Italy, Misano was designed in 1969 but extensively modified in 2006. The track is now 4.180 kilometres long and has a total of 16 turns. There are three hairpin bends – Tramonto, Curva del Rio and Quercia – as well as a fast section, which all place heavy demands on the tyres. Which tyres is Pirelli bringing? Teams will have the newly developed P Zero DHD for GT3 and the P Zero DH for GT4, as well as the WH for wet conditions, which might be used on Sunday as possible rain is forecast. In total Pirelli will be bringing 2000 of the P Zero DHD and 629 of the P Zero DH to Misano, to cater for a provisional grid of 34 GT3 cars, plus 24 extra cars in GT4 and the GT sports club. These include many of the premium and prestige marques for which Pirelli also provides original equipment on the road. In total, eight different models will be represented from seven different automotive brands. What are the most likely race strategies? The teams will have six new sets of P Zero DHD available for the weekend, with four sets for qualifying and the race. Every set of P Zero DHD will run for around 23-25 laps per stint, stopping at around the half-hour mark in each race for a driver and tyre change.

New Pirelli P Zero tyres for 2017 Blancpain GT Series	New Pirelli P Zero tyres for 2017 Blancpain GT Series

Quotes: Matteo Braga, circuit activity manager: “Misano is a particularly aggressive circuit for tyres: there are some big kerbs and plenty of corners, which means constant braking and acceleration combined with high lateral load. The nature of the sprint format means that teams need to unlock the performance of the compound straight away, so the practice sessions will be particularly important.”

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