Milan,
29
July
2018
|
12:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Rising stars win at Rally Finland with Pirelli

On Rally Finland, one of the most famous tests in rallying, Pirelli tyres were used to claim victory in both of the main support categories to the World Rally Championship. In addition to supplying the Junior World Rally Championship, Pirelli equipped the home-grown winner in the WRC2 class.

Pietarinen finishes first with Pirelli. On his WRC2 debut in a Pirelli-shod Skoda Fabia, Eerik Pietarinen took victory against strong competition in the category for R5 cars, including several factory-run drivers. Pietarinen, 24, is currently leading the Finnish Rally Championship with Pirelli, and the company recently invited him to take part in a round of the Italian championship – the San Marino Rally – where he finished on the podium.

Torn takes after Tänak. The main event in Finland was dominated by Ott Tänak, who originally made his big WRC break through the Pirelli Star Driver scheme. Taking the Junior WRC win was Ken Torn, who is mentored by fellow Estonian Tänak. In a close finish, Torn held off Emil Bergkvist, who moves into the championship lead

Scorpion K excels in high speeds and high temperatures. On Rally Finland, tyres have to cope with the fastest event on the WRC calendar, and this year they also hand to handle abnormally high temperatures. This made tyre wear more of a factor than usual, and also made the gravel roads very rough on the second pass, but the Pirelli Scorpion K proved its durability and performance in these tough conditions.

Terenzio Testoni, Pirelli rally activity manager. “Rally Finland is a tough test for the tyres, this year even more than usual, but our Scorpion tyres proved to be up to the challenge, contributing to the victory on WRC2 debut from Eerik Pietarinen: a driver who has already brought us success in Finland this year. Congratulations to Ken Torn for his Junior WRC win: it reminds us of when Ott Tänak won in Finland with Pirelli in his first WRC season, before taking the overall victory this year.”

What's next? The Junior World Rally Championship on Rally Turkey from September 13-16. That is preceded by the next World Rally Championship event: Rally Germany from August 16-19.

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For further information about Pirelli, please contact Anthony Peacock on +44 (0)7765 896 930 or anthony.peacock.ex@pirelli.com

For more information on Rally Finland, please visit: www.nesterallyfinland.fi