Pirelli Tyres At Road Atlanta
Official Tyre of Road Atlanta Looks for Podiums at Chevy Grand Prix
BRASELTON, Georgia, June 27, 2003 - Like everyone else in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) who has been on hiatus in North America since March's 12 Hours of Sebring, Pirelli is anxious to see the green flag wave at this Sunday's nationally televised Chevy Grand Prix of Atlanta. Celebrating its 96th year of top-level motorsports competition this year, Pirelli is looking to return to its regular podium appearances with some exciting new teams this year.
Focusing primarily on GTS and GT customers during 2003, Pirelli P Zero race tyres shod a quality list of cars in the first round of the ALMS at Sebring. 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, a Pirelli-shod Ferrari 360 Modena from Miami-based JMB Racing USA with drivers Stephane Gregoire (Carmel, Indiana) and Eilseo Salazar (Chile) hope to challenge the dominating Porsches of Alex Job Racing and The Racer's Group. 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 a driver yet to be named. PK Sport finished second in class at last year's 12 Hours of Sebring.
Pirelli will also shod the Carsport America Viper of team owner Tom Weickardt (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) and experienced Frenchman Jean-Phillippe Belloc that finished fourth in GTS at Sebring, as well as the 675 Lola entry of Essex Racing for Melanie Paterson (Toronto) and Jason Workman (Flowery Branch, Georgia).
In addition to these seasoned teams in the ALMS, one of the most exciting events of the weekend will be the debut performance of Hyper Sport's Panoz Esperante GTLM. Built " just down the street" from Road Atlanta, the Panoz Esperante GTLM with the 5.0 liter Elan power plant will be 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 that made its debut at Sebring 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, will be the team's lead driver.
Founded in 1872, the Pirelli Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of tyres for most cars and light trucks plus cables for telecommunications, electronic data and power transmission. Pirelli tyres 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 Tyre North America specializes in the manufacture and marketing of high-performance car, light truck and motorcycle tyres 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 CBS Sports from 4-6 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, June 29. Race fans can listen to live coverage of the race on the American Le Mans Series Radio Web at www.americanlemans.com.