Pirelli Tires at Sonoma

Sonoma (CA), July 25, 2003 - Vacation's over! Beginning with this Sunday's nationally televised two-hour, 45-minute Infineon Grand Prix of Sonoma, Pirelli and the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) will be competing four out of the next five weekends. Celebrating its 96th year of top-level motorsports competition this year, Pirelli is looking to return to regular podium appearances with some exciting new teams this year.
Focusing primarily on GTS and GT customers during 2003, Pirelli P Zero race tires shod a quality list of cars in the first two rounds of the ALMS at Sebring and Road Atlanta. Pirelli's strong bond with Ferrari includes two World Sports Car championships in 1995 and 1998, as well as winning the inaugural Petit Le Mans overall and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the prototype class in the latter year.

Pirelli is, therefore, thrilled to be supporting the efforts of two outstanding Ferrari teams for the entire 2003 ALMS season. Ferrari 550 Maranellos have already demonstrated that they are capable of dethroning the Corvettes in the GTS championship this year and Gabriele Rafanelli's Team Olive Garden is hungry to be that team. With a completely revised vehicle and the focus of Pirelli engineering, drivers Emanuele Naspetti (Italy) and Mimmo Schiattarella (Monaco) look to improve on last year's record of three podium finishes and fourth place in the 2002 ALMS GTS team championship.

Meanwhile, in GT, two Pirelli-shod Ferrari 360 Modenas from Miami-based JMB Racing USA hope to challenge the dominating Porsches of Alex Job Racing and The Racer's Group. Ferrari #28 will be driven at Sonoma by JMB regulars Stephane Gregoire (Carmel, Ind.) and Eliseo Salazar (Chile) while Andrea Garbagnati (Monaco) and JMB principal Ludovico Manfredi (Key Biscayne, FL) will man the #29 Ferrari. Multiple sports car champions in Europe and a fourth in class at Sebring, JMB Racing looks to continue their winning ways by competing in North America for the entire ALMS season.

Also committing to the ALMS for the year is the two-car team of London-based PK Sport with lead driver Scot Robin Liddell joined by Aussie Alex Davison, a four-year veteran of the German Carrera Cup, in the #60 Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Veteran Vic Rice (San Rafael, Calif.) will compete in the #61 Porsche with Keith Alexander (New York). PK Sport finished second in class at last year's 12 Hours of Sebring.

Pirelli will also shod the Carsport America Vipers of team owner Tom Weickardt (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) and Jeff Altenburg (Cantonsville, MD) in Viper #17 with experienced Frenchman Jean-Phillippe Belloc and Aaron Povaledo (Toronto) in Viper #71, as well as the 675 Lola entry of Essex Racing for Jason Workman (Flowery Branch, GA) and Dave McEntee of nearby Novato, Calif. McEntee won the 675 class at Sonoma last year.
In addition to these seasoned teams, one of the most anticipated events of the season was the debut performance of the #03 Hyper Sport Panoz Esperante GTLM at last month's Chevy Grand Prix. Built " just down the street" from Road Atlanta, the Panoz Esperante GTLM with the 5.0 liter Elan power plant is the only American-bred car challenging the likes of the German and Italian thoroughbreds in the ALMS GT class this season.
 

Even the Hyper Sport team has some interesting background. Team principals Rick Skelton (Atlanta) and Brad Nyberg (Houston) are graduates of the Panoz GT and Pro Series where they were top competitors for the past two years while Joe Foster, Chief Driving Instructor of the Panoz Driving School, is the team's lead driver.
To illustrate the growth of the ALMS over the past five years one needs to only look at the number of cars on the grid this year compared to 2002; 37 sports cars should take the green flag this weekend versus 29 just last year.

Founded in 1872, the Pirelli Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of tires for most cars and light trucks plus cables for telecommunications, electronic data and power transmission. Pirelli tires are fitted as original equipment to more than 350 different vehicle models, from the world's most powerful supercars to modest gas-, diesel- and electricity-driven city cars.

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 in Rome, Georgia, to better serve the American OEM and Replacement markets. For more information, visit the Company's web site at: www.us.pirelli.com.

The race will be nationally televised on NBC Sports from 4-6 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, July 27. Race fans can listen to live coverage of the race on the American Le Mans Series Radio Web at www.americanlemans.com. Next Sunday the ALMS heads north of the border for Le Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres northeast of Montreal for the fourth round of the series.