Pirelli wins in Finland!

Jyvaskyla (FIN), 7 August 2005 - Peugeot driver Marcus Gronholm has won the all-gravel Rally Finland (round 10 of the World Championship) using Pirelli tyres. The victory marks Pirelli's 138th World Rally win, and the first WRC triumph for Peugeot on Pirelli rubber. Third place for Gronholm's team mate, Markko Martin, means that there are two Pirelli-equipped cars on the podium, and that Peugeot-Pirelli retake the lead of the manufacturers' championship. The Subaru-Pirelli of Petter Solberg ends the rally fourth, while the Pirelli-equipped Mitsubishi of Harri Rovanpera ends the rally seventh. In total, the Pirelli runners set 14 fastest stage times out of 21. Gronholm's Peugeot-Pirelli took the lead on the opening leg of the rally and was never headed, clinching his fifth Rally Finland victory. He took an advantage of over a minute into the final day, which consisted of four demanding stages run consecutively without a service halt or tyre change. Gronholm controlled his lead in the damp conditions to end up with a winning margin of 1m10s over championship leader Sebastien Loeb. Finland is renowned as the fastest and most spectacular rally of the World Championship, and in these demanding conditions Pirelli's famous K tyres worked very well. Marcus used Pirelli's K4 tyres for the entirety of the event, although the majority of the Pirelli runners used the softer K6 for the damp and cool conditions of the final leg. Finland was also the fifth round of the Junior World Rally Championship, exclusively supplied by Pirelli. Citroen C2 driver Daniel Sordo won the category from Suzuki's Urmo Aava. Both drivers were delighted with the performance of their KM4 control tyres. Pirelli's Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented: " It's been a dominant performance from the K tyre in these extremely demanding conditions, which call for sustained high-speed performance from the tyres. The rubber has been both fast and reliable, enabling all the Pirelli runners to be consistently at the sharp end of the field, and Marcus Gronholm to take a well-deserved victory." Rally Finland (10/16) - Final Classification 1 Gronholm-Rautianen Peugeot 307 WRC 2h54m11.0s 2 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC +1m06.7s 3 Martin-Park Peugeot 307 WRC +1m35.6s 4 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +2m08.0s 5 Hirvonen-Lehtinen Ford Focus WRC +2m13.6s 6 Gardemeister-Honkanen Ford Focus WRC +3m32.4s 7 Rovanpera-Pietilainen Mitsubishi Lancer WRC +4m27.9s 8 Duval-Smeets Citroen Xsara WRC +5m10.4s 9 Solberg-Menkerud Ford Focus WRC +5m45.8s 10 Tuohino-Markkula Skoda Fabia WRC +6m42.3s Drivers Championship: 1 Loeb 83; 2 Gronholm 55; 3 Solberg 53; 4 Martin 48; 5 Gardemeister 47; 6 Rovanpera 22; 7 Stohl 12; 8 Sainz 11; 9 Kresta 10; 10 H Solberg 9; 11 Duval 8; 12 Panizzi 7 Manufacturers: 1 Peugeot 106; 2 Citroen 105; 3 Ford 69; 4 Subaru 59; 5 Mitsubishi 43; 6 Skoda 8 Next round: Rally Deutschland (D), 26-28 August More information and photographs on Pirelli's motor sport activities: www.pirellicompetizioni.com