Pirelli at the New England Grand Prix

LAKEVILLE, Conn., July 1, 2005 - Last year, Pirelli was accustomed to celebrating P2 podiums on a regular basis as Pirelli-shod teams won seven of nine races and set seven fastest laps in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), winning the coveted ALMS Tire Manufacturers' Championship. Lime Rock was also the site of Pirelli's 2004 GT2 victory by the Risi Competizione Ferrari 360 over a cadre of Porsches. For 2005, however, Pirelli-shod teams were merely hoping to challenge for podiums in the very competitive GT1 and GT2 classes with Maserati and Panoz respectively. That was until April at Road Atlanta, only the second round of the ALMS season, where Maserati scored its first North American podium in nearly 50 years and the Panoz Esperante upset the dominant Porsches for its first GT2 victory ever. In 1957 racing legends Juan Manuel Fangio and Jean Behra won the 12 Hours of Sebring with a Pirelli-shod 450S, Maserati's 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 - Pirelli - in its biggest market. Last year, partnered with Pirelli, Maserati sealed its triumphant return to motor racing when its two Maserati MC12s scored two wins, three seconds and one third in the last four races of the FIA GT season. In North America, Maserati will participate in the entire 2005 ALMS race calendar with one Maserati MC12 supported by Risi Competizioni of Houston. Although Fabio Babini will be subbing for slightly injured Fabrizio De Simone this weekend, Ferrari/Maserati factory tester Andrea Bertolini and De Simone will drive the car for the entire season. In its first race on North American soil, a fifth-place finish at Sebring proved to be a real challenge with the Italian Trident carrying 50 kilos (115lb) in weight penalty. With a reduction to 30 kilos at Road Atlanta, Maserati achieved a well-earned third-place podium behind the two factory Corvettes. With a further penalty reduction to 10 kilos, everyone is anxious to see how level the playing ground is in GT1. In its first full year in the ALMS, the Pirelli-shod Panoz Motor Sports Esperante GTLM team was looking forward to the season with greater expectations. These expectations met with dramatic success at Road Atlanta as Bill Auberlen from Redondo Beach, Calif., first achieved a record-setting pole in qualifying followed by his teammate, Scot Robin Liddell, who held off a major challenge by the #23 AJR Porsche for 90 minutes to claim the team's first victory in the #50 Panoz Esperante. It was Auberlen's second class win and Liddell's seventh, but first in GT2. Liddell also set a new lap record during the race. More recently, Auberlen, along with Liddell and Canadian Scott Maxwell, further demonstrated the Esperante's potential by managing to lead the classic 24 Hours of Le Mans until mechanical problems put them out of the race. At Lime Rock, Auberlen and Liddell will be joined by the second Panoz entry, #51, which will be driven by Ohio-native Bryan Sellers and Marino Franchitti of Scotland. Rounding out the Pirelli-equipped teams for Road Atlanta will be the #71 Carsport America Viper of team owner Tom Weickardt and young Italian Michele Rugalo in GT1 and the surprising #79 J3 Racing Porsche of Justin Jackson and Tim Sugden who are second in GT2 points with two podium finishes in the first three races. The New England Grand Prix at Lime Rock will get the green flag at 3 p.m. on Monday, July 4, and will be televised by Speed Channel beginning at 4:00 p.m. (EDT). 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. For the third year in a row, all ALMS races will also be covered by the American Forces Network. More information about Pirelli's motorsport activities, including the Pirelli Girls, can be found at www.us.pirelli.com.