Rallye Deutschland

The World Rally Championship crews meet for the tenth time this season (August 23-25) on the asphalt of the Rallye Deutschland, a well known event among the European Championship competitors but new this season to the World series teams, this event replacing Portugal on the calendar for 2002. However, instead of the traditional gravel, this is a fresh asphalt competition that increases the percentage in the series of this demanding surface.

Rally Deutschland is contested in the area around Trier, close to the Luxemburg border. Near Trier, Wittlich and Piesport the roads are a combination of tight long straights linked with sharp bends through the famous Mosel vineyards that fuel Germany's most famous wines. The second type of roads are those on the military ranges of Baumholder where the surface is mainly concrete but the roads are bordered by hinkelsteins, large stone blocks that are a major hazard to suspension, wheels and tyres.

Pirelli Rally Manager Fiore Brivio admits: 'We visited the event in 2001 to find out as much as possible. It is an asphalt event split into two types of area. Around Trier it is quite flat with long straights and 90 or 45-degree corners and the other is more twisty and what I would call a " normal" asphalt rally.

'At this time of year it is possible that rain could affect the decisions of tyre choice and temperatures can be quite cool, around 10 degrees and possibly wet. For the particular conditions of this event we will debut our new RX tyre that has shown to have significant improvements in performance and which can be hand cut on the shoulders to further improve grip in certain situations.'

Rx - The New Name

The nature of the roads changes clearly between the Stages around Trier and Baumholder. The PZero tyre options must be able to cope with this surface variance and also the possibility of different weather patterns.
Ford and Subaru have chosen the well known RE damp to wet weather tyre and the new RX pattern for dry to damp roads. All will be fitted with the EMI anti-deflation system.

From Dry Surface to Humid
RX (Size 225/650-18)
Type A tyre for dry asphalt
Compound options 50, 70 and 90
Description For all dry surface conditions and also slightly damp asphalt. The shoulders of the tyre may be hand-cut to deal with particular sections of patchy damp roads.

From High Humidity to Wet
RE (Size 225/650-18)
Type Intermediate tyre for damp to wet surfaces
Compound options 70 (with 2 evolutions)
Description A very versatile tyre, designed for damp to wet surfaces. The RE tyre can be further hand cut for heavy rain or where there is a lot of standing water on the Stages.

NOTE: The higher the compound number the softer the tyre.

The Pirelli Squad For Germany

3 Subaru Impreza WRC Makinen-Lindstrm* , Solberg-Mills* & Mortl-Wicha*
3 Ford Focus RS Sainz-Moya*, McRae-Grist* & Martin-Park*

Plus other cars of teams not regularly engaged in the World Rally Championship.

* Registered for Manufacturers' Championship points

Pirelli's German Record
Pirelli has an excellent record on the German event with nine wins to date, starting with Erwin Webers success in an Opel Ascona 400 on the first Rallye Deutschland in 1982. This was repeated when Walter Rhrl won with a Lancia Rallye 037 the following season. Both Piero Liatti (for Lancia in 1991) and Weber again (this time with Mitsubishi) in 1992 used their success on the rally to carry them on to the European Rally Championship titles of that year. Last year Rhrl combined his love of rallying with his work for Porsche by driving a Pirelli-backed Porsche as course car.

Recent winners
1990 Robert Droogmans/Ronny Joosten (Lancia Delta Integrale)
1991 Piero Liatti/Luciano Tedeschini (Lancia Delta Integrale)
1992 Erwin Weber/Manfred Hiemer (Mitsubishi Galant VR-4)
1993 Patrick Snyers/Dany Colebunders (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
1994 Dieter Depping/Peter Thul (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
1995 Enrico Bertone/Massimo Chiapponi (Toyota Celica GT-Four)
1996 Dieter Depping/Fred Berssen (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
1997 Dieter Depping/Dieter Hwranke (Ford Escort RS Cosworth)
1998 Matthias Kahle/Dieter Schneppenheim (Toyota Corolla WRC)
1999 Armin Kremer/Fred Berssen (Subaru Impreza WRC98)
2000 Henrik Lundgaard/Jens Anker (Toyota Corolla WRC)
2001 Philippe Bugalski/Jean-Paul Chiaroni (Citron Xsara WRC)

Web site: www.rallye-deutschland.de

Around The World In 14 Events

Monte Carlo 18-20 January Asphalt/snow/ice
The perfect start to the season for Pirelli with an historic victory going to the Subaru of Tommi Makinen and with four cars fitted with Pirelli PZero tyres in the top six places. The rally was run almost entirely without snow and saw a superb result the RS tyre in the level 9 'thermal' compound that gives maximum performance in conditions of dry asphalt with only a little ice.

Sweden* 1-3 February Snow/ice/gravel
Unfortunately early snow turned quickly into mud but already the Subarus of Makinen and Solberg had retired with engine problems and McRae's Ford suffered a heavy penalty, breaking a wheel after hitting a rock. Third place for Sainz in the other Ford was the best result although again the competition showed the positive steps forward made by the PZero studded tyres.

Corsica* 8-10 March Asphalt
A mixture of dry asphalt on the first day and then wet or damp for the next two days provided a difficult test for tyre choices. However the latest evolutions of the PZero asphalt range proved to be exceptionally competitive in all conditions. Unfortunately Makinen and McRae crashed out of the event but Pirelli's asphalt performance brought fastest times for both Ford and Subaru.

Catalunya 22-24 March Asphalt
Another good test of the PZero asphalt tyres on the variable asphalt surfaces that are a feature of this event. Although the final podium was dominated by drivers from Peugeot and Citroen there were excellent performances by Solberg (Subaru) in fifth place ahead of the Fords of McRae and Martin. Unfortunately both Makinen and Sainz had to retire from the event.

Cyprus* 19-21 April Gravel
The PZero gravel tyre range dominated the stage times in Cyprus, winning 17 of the 19 stages contested and will every one of the Pirelli works teams' drivers from Ford and Subaru setting at least one fastest stage time. Unfortunately two accidents on the final day robbed Colin McRae of victory.

Argentina* 17-19 May Gravel
The result swung comprehensively Pirelli's way with a 1-2-3-4 success following the exclusions of both leading Peugeots, first of Gronholm and then of Burns. Sainz (Ford-Pirelli) took his first win for two years but the event could just as easily have been won by Makinen (Subaru-Pirelli) until he crashed while battling for victory with Gronholm on the final morning. Another good performance by the PZero gravel tyres in all conditions but always with the KM pattern.

Acropolis 14-16 June Gravel
Four PZero equipped cars ended the rally in the top six places with outright victory going to Colin McRae with his Ford-Pirelli team mate Carlos Sainz taking third place, Petter Solberg (Subaru-Pirelli) fifth and early leader Markko Martin (Ford-Pirelli) sixth. It was another demonstration of the strength of the XR tyre, used almost exclusively on this demanding event.

Safari * 11-14 July Gravel
The third gravel event win in a row, and the fourth of the season for the PZero tyre range. Pirelli lead from start to finish, first with Makinen (who retired with a mechanical problem) and then with McRae who completed his 25th WRC victory without a single puncture. This was a famous victory for the XR tyre that was used on every stage except one without the EMI anti-deflation system.

Finland* 8-11 August Gravel
A very good test of the PZero tyres on the fast, smooth and iper-technical gravel Finnish Stages. Rally dominated by the Peugeot 206s, but Pirelli scores from 3rd to 6th place thanks, respectively, to Solberg, Sainz, Martin and Makinen. Bad luck for Colin McRae, stopped with 2 SSs to the end when his Ford Focus caught fire preventing him to score a brilliant 3rd place.

Germany 22-25 August Asphalt
San Remo 20-22 September Asphalt
New Zealand* 3-6 October Gravel
Australia* 1-3 November Gravel
Great Britain 17-19 November Gravel

* WRC Production Car World Championship (Group N) events