Pirelli teams undertake three days of intensive testing at Monza

PIRELLI TEAMS UNDERTAKE THREE DAYS
OF INTENSIVE TESTING AT MONZA

Many of the top teams supplied by Pirelli have taken part in a detailed test to prepare for the forthcoming summer races (with the exception of Germany). The test was designed to improve performance, and assess some of the new tyre structures and compounds tried out at Monza.

Milan, 28 June 2007- Pirelli Competizioni has just completed three intensive test days of development at Monza, from Monday 25 June to Wednesday 27 June. As Pirelli's Circuit Manager Pierluigi De Cancellis explained: "We carried out back-to-back tests of different compounds and structures with all the teams. By doing this, we arrived at a number of solutions that will come in handy for the next few races at Spa and Brno. Oschersleben is a bit too close in terms of time, so logistically it's not really possible to change our plans in time."

He concluded: "We managed to identify a number of Pirelli PZero Racing tyre choices that allowed the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrrari 430 GTC to set much better lap times than it did during the race weekend. We finally succeeded in finding the right balance between chassis, set-up and tyres that was unfortunately not the perfect one during the race week-end."

De Cancellis also observed that "with the Porsche, we made substantial progress in ensuring that the tyre could run for longer distances in hot conditions, which are typical of summer. As for Aston Martin, we concentrated our work on the slightly harder soft tyres ? and these satisfied all the expectations of the drivers and the engineers. The lap times came down, but what was more important was the ability of the tyres to reduce understeer and deliver consistent performance over a long stint using a single set of PZero Racing tyres."

On the Maserati MC12s the work centred on unlocking the consistent Pirelli tyre performance that made the difference at Bucharest, helping Bertolini and Piccini to dominate the race last May. The team also focussed on finding new tyre solutions that would give the drivers more grip coming out of the corners and better traction under acceleration, allowing them to get the most out of the powerful Maserati V12.

On Monday Pirelli's technicians will be at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, for the test day prior to the Spa 24 Hours at the end of July. After the test day they go straight to Oschersleben, for the fifth round of the FIA GT Championship on July 8.


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