Pirelli tyres shine on the Mexico City 250 round three of the Grand AM Championship
Pirelli's PZero Racing tyres were able to show off their merits on one of America's most famous and spectacular circuits: the Autodromo Pedro & Ricardo Rodriguez in Mexico City, which hosted the third round of the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series last weekend.
The race, which took place over 250 miles, was particularly challenging for men, machines and tyres but even in these tough conditions the Pirelli PZero Racing covers used by all the competitors demonstrated their strength, reliability and performance. The race was closely fought in both categories - Daytona Prototype and GT - but a late charge from the Pontiac-Riley of Marc Goossens proved decisive in establishing a gap over the similar car of Pruett-Rojas, which was instead powered by a Lexus V8 engine. The Lola chassis, powered by Pontiac, was on the podium for the first time in Mexico thanks to third place for Jonsson-Zonta - who were in contention for victory throughout a large part of the race.
The GT class also saw a close fight between several different cars, during which the PZero Racing tyres pushed the envelope of performance and durability even in marginal conditions. The Liddell-Davis Pontiac G6 finally finished in front of the similar car of Collins-Edwards and the Werner-Kaffer Porsche 911 GT3. The Mazda RX-8 of Assentato-Segal was fourth. Three different cars have now won the class since the start of this year's championship: after Mazda won in Daytona, Porsche triumphed in Homestead and now Pontiac has come out on top in Mexico. This just underlines the versatility and competitiveness of every competitor's Pirelli tyres.
Marc Goossens, sharing with Jim Matthews in the number 91 Pontiac-Riley, emphasized the notable strength of the PZero Racing tyres throughout the race. "I thought I had flat-spotted the tyres with some heavy braking at the end of the race and I was worried about having to face the final few laps with a big vibration and scarce grip," he said. "On the contrary, the PZero Racing tyres were still extremely effective: we had a good feeling and no vibrations at all. Obviously the performance of every tyre goes down in a race that is so hot and fiercely-contested, but I can honestly say that I was very satisfied with the amount of grip and performance from my PZero Racing tyres throughout the entire 100 laps."