Pirelli at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Looking To Improve On Last Years Success Sebring, Fla., March 17, 2005 Last year at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the oldest and most prestigious sports car endurance race in America, Pirelli-shod cars scored four podium finishes, a first and a second in P2 and a second and third in GTS (now GT1). This excellent start to the 2004 season was an indicator of even greater success as the season unfolded with Pirelli winning the coveted ALMS Tire Manufacturers Championship in P2. In 1957 racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra won the 12 Hours of Sebring with a Pirelli-shod 450S, Maseratis last victory in the U.S. with a factory car. Forty-eight years later Maserati is back with a factory racing car and re-united with another great racing legend Pirelliin its biggest market. Last year, partnered with Pirelli, Maserati sealed its triumphant return to motor racing with a fantastic one-two finish in Zhuhai, China, the last round of the FIA GT Championship. The two MC12s, fielded by the AF Corse team in the last four races of the season, scored two wins (the first one in Oschersleben, Germany), three seconds and one third between them. Now, following winter-long negotiations with IMSA, Maserati will participate in the entire 2005 ALMS race calendar with one Maserati MC12 directly managed by the Maserati Race Department modified in compliance with the rules of IMSA. The team will be supported by Risi Competizioni of Houston and Georgia-based Pirelli Tire North America. The effort will showcase Pirelli's latest range of racing tires in a track environment considered to be one of the most competitive in the world. Maserati factory tester Andrea Bertolini will drive the car for the entire season. For Sebring, he will be joined by Pirelli test driver Fabio Babini and Frabrizio De Simone. The Pirelli-shod Panoz Motor Sports Esperante GTLM made its ALMS debut at Mid- Ohio last year and shocked the predominantly Porsche 911 GT class by qualifying second and running for the lead until an accident and a broken half shaft put an end to their day. But that was a high point to a season of gremlin-filled weekends as the Panoz boys struggled with a car that never reached its true potential during the season. Now with five months of development under their belts and all-new race cars for the 2005 season, the Panoz team is looking forward to Sebring with great anticipation. Panoz Esperante GTLM #50 will be piloted by experienced sports car ace Bill Auberlen who has signed with the team for the 2005 GT2 title chase. For Auberlen, who hails from Redondo Beach, Calif., it will be a return to the Panoz fold where he last piloted a Le Mans Prototype in the 2002 season. He will be joined by Scotsman Robin Liddell, another successful sports car driver who showed his driving virtuosity last year behind the wheel of a P2 prototype he shared with Clint Field. Winning six times in the Intersport Lola and turning numerous fastest race laps in the process, Liddell finished in a tie with teammate Field for third place in the P2 Drivers Championship. Experienced Italian Emanuelle Naspetti will join the team for Sebring. The second Panoz entry, #51, will be driven by ALMS veteran Gunnar Jeannette, who was one of the Esperante team drivers last season. One of the youngest drivers ever to compete in the ALMS, Top Gunner Jeannette was 18 when he raced in the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2000 and has been behind the wheel of various Panoz race cars since 2002. He will be teamed with Canadian Scott Maxwell and Ohio-native Bryan Sellers at Sebring. Clint Field had a storybook 2004 season. Besides winning Le Mans, his Pirelli-sponsored Intersport Racing Lola/Judd took six of the nine races in P2 last year to claim the IMSA Cup. But because of two DNFs during the season, the Intersport duo of Field and Liddell were not able to overcome Miracle Motorsports lead in ALMS P2 Team and Drivers Championships. Field and his Telesis Intersport Racing #30 Lola B2K/40 Judd-powered race car are out to make amends for those omissions last year. With Liddell making the move to the Panoz team, Field will be teamed with Brits Gareth Ridpath and Liz Haliday for the Sebring 12 Hours. The Telesis Intersport Racing Lola will be joined by two other Pirelli shod P2 entries at Sebring, the #15 Binnie Motorsports Lola B05/42 with Nicholson McLaren power driven by William Binnie, Adam Sharpe and Bobby Julien and the #27 Kruse Motorsport Judd-powered Courage C-65 piloted by Phil Bennett, Ian Mitchell and Harold Primat. Besides the Maserati MC12, Pirelli will be supporting two other GT1 cars. Long-time Pirelli stalwart, the #71 Carsport America Viper of team owner Tom Weickardt finished fourth in GTS at Sebring in 2004. This year experienced Frenchmen Jean-Phillippe Belloc, Italian Michele Rugolo and Weickardt will share the Viper GTS-R ride, hoping to improve on last years Sebring result. In addition, Graham Nash Motorsports has entered the #83 Saleen S7R for Rick Sutherland, Nigel Smith and Ricky Cole. Rounding out the Pirelli-equipped teams for Sebring is the #34 ZIP Racing Porsche 999 GT# RS Steven Ivankovich, Spencer Pumpelly and Andy Lally, one of the 13 Porsche entries in GT2 (formally GT). While Pirelli has a history of success at Sebring, there is no such thing as a sure bet at this track. Built on the site of a former World War II bomber training airfield, Sebring International Raceway is notorious for being brutal on both car and driver. With its slow corners, bumpy tarmac and concrete surfaces, the 3.7-mile, 17-turn, circuit has always presented a challenge, but even more so these days as the fast prototypes and productionbased GT and GTS cars approach nearly 200 mph. Winning Sebring will never be easy. But placing well at Sebring is a great kickoff for the racing season in North America. And this year Pirelli is working extremely hard to add to the wins and world titles it has been garnering internationally for the past 97 years. The 53nd annual 12 Hours of Sebring will get the green flag at 10:45 AM on Saturday, March 19, and will be televised live from flag-to-flag by the Speed Channel. The ALMS Radio Web will have live coverage online at www.americanlemans.com. In addition, all ALMS races will again be televised live in Europe in a television arrangement between the series and MotorsTV, a European television channel dedicated to the world of motorsports. More information about Pirellis motorsport activities can be found at www.pirellicompetizioni.com