Pirelli wins FIM Cross Country Rallies world title with Helder Rodrigues who praises the Scorpion Rally

Portuguese rally expert and championship winner won the last leg of the Pharaohs Rally, stressing the importance of his Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres, describing them as decisive to reaching the season’s victory.

Pirelli put a new victory on its award shelf: this year’s FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship. Bringing Pirelli to the top step of the prestigious competition was on Saturday October 8 the Portuguese rider of the Red Bull TMN Yamaha Team Helder Rodriguez, which has emphasized the contribution of Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres. “In competitions like these, tyres are essential and can really make a difference,” said Rodrigues, “The Pirelli Scorpion Rally has been fantastic choice, they are able to offer good traction, good mileage and they have always gone well for the whole season, contributing in a fundamental way to my victory in the 2011 Cross Country Rallies World Championship. I can only be grateful to Pirelli for their outstanding service offered by this product and I can not wait to try them at the 2012 Dakar!” Riding his Yamaha WR450F Rally equipped with Pirelli Scorpion Rally, Helder Rodrigues has been crowned the first World Champion Portuguese rider in history, thanks to his second place in the Rally of the Pharaohs, the last leg of the Cross Country Rally World Championship. “The Egyptian round was very hard," he added, "…to go so many days in the desert on the bike is very tiring, I didn’t want just to win the championship but also to arrive among the first riders at the Pharaohs Rally. In the end I achieved second place and won 3 of the 6 stages of this event. Also this time were decisively excellent the Pirelli Scorpion Rally, which enabled me to win the stage in Tunisia and achieve second place in three other rounds of the World Championship.” The Pirelli Scorpion Rally tyres are designed for desert and rallies racing, featuring an innovative production process that combines high resistance to fatigue and overall performance, even after intensive use. The compounds of the Pirelli Scorpion Rally have been tested in the most demanding rallies of the world and are able to ensure continuity of performance even in the longer stages. Scorpion Rally in particular offers better traction on all types of terrain in all conditions of temperature and speed. The innovative design of the reinforced casing, developed and patented by Pirelli's research and development men, can, in fact, support the high speeds of movement while ensuring high puncture resistance as well as a reduction of the slip (- 10%) and decreased operating temperature (-10 ° C). In essence, the knobs of the front tyre are optimized for improved directional stability at high speed and high traction even on the toughest terrain is guaranteed thanks to the specific geometry and arrangement of the knobs on the rear tire. For further information please visit pirelli.com, find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/pirelli and follow us on Twitter: @Pirelli_Media. For further information please contact: Matteo Giusti             +39 338 616 9251                  matteo.giusti@pirelli.com Mariella Speciale       +39 335 182 3646                  mariella.speciale@pirelli.com Press Release - PDF Version (66,7 KB)