The dominance of the top two, both seasoned hill climb experts, was evident from qualifying, where they set the pace, finishing in the same order as the race and leaving their rivals several seconds behind on the challenging 19.93-kilometre course, featuring 156 turns and a 1,440-metre elevation change.

"We know Simone very well and were quite confident about how he would perform. Congratulations also to Diego, who reaffirms the supremacy of the Italian school, as well as to their closest rivals. Races like these demand experience, nerves of steel, and a meticulously fine-tuned car set-up, to which our technicians contributed by optimising tyre-car interaction. The rest was down to the Hill Climb soft version of our P Zero," commented Terenzio Testoni, Rally Activity Manager and Hill Climb Racing Coordinator.

"This is our second year working with Ford in this type of racing, and we didn’t have to wait long to see results. In 2023, we equipped the Ford Supervan 4.2, which shattered the Open class record, while last year, we supplied tyres for another exceptional vehicle, the Ford F-150 Lightning Super Truck, which won its category. Now, we’ve done it again with an even more prestigious result and an equally extraordinary car, albeit of a different type, proving the versatility of our product across diverse tracks and vehicles," affirmed Matteo Braga, Circuit Activity Manager, in charge of the collaboration with Ford.

This year’s one-two finish adds to Pirelli’s already illustrious record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. In the previous edition, Pirelli tyres propelled the F-150, driven by France’s Dumas, to a class win, while in 2019, the overall victory went to Robin Shute in the Honda turbo-powered Wolf GB08 prototype. That same year, P Zero tyres led the Bentley Continental GT to victory and a production car class record, while in 2018, they supported the Bentley Bentayga in setting a new benchmark for SUVs. That record was later broken in 2022 by the Pirelli P Zero-equipped Lamborghini Urus Performante.

The event takes place on Sunday 22 June in Colorado, where the Pirelli engineers will be supporting two elite drivers, Romain Dumas at the wheel of the electric Mustang competing in the Pikes Peak Open category and Simone Faggioli, multiple Italian and European hill-climb champion at the wheel of the Norma M20 FC, in the Unlimited category, the event’s blue riband class. They will both be tackling the famous “Race to the Clouds” on the 19.93 km course with its 156 corners and an elevation gain of 1,440 metres, from 2,862 at the start to 4,302 metres at the finish line.

“For this type of event, our support focusses on two crucial aspects: working with the team engineers to prepare the car as well as possible and, obviously, to provide a reliable, high-performance product,” explain Matteo Braga, Circuit Activity Manager and in charge of the collaboration with Ford and Terenzio Testoni, Rally Activity Manager, responsible for Hillclimb events. “The characteristics of our racing P Zero tyres, much appreciated by the teams and drivers for the grip, consistency and driving precision they provide, are essential when working with exceptionally powerful cars like these, that have to push on constantly uphill, dealing with a variable track surface and demanding corners. It’s going to be a spectacular race.”

In recent years, Pirelli has won the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb several times. Last year, Pirelli equipped the F-150 Lightning Super Truck, also driven by Frenchman Dumas, while in 2019 the overall win went to Robin Shute at the wheel of the Honda turbo-powered Wolf GB08. That same year, P Zero tyres were also fitted to the Bentley Continental GT which took the win and set a record in the production car category. In 2018, the Italian company supported the Bentley Bentayga when it set the record in the SUV category, a record that was broken in 2022 by the Lamborghini Urus Performante, also fitted with Pirelli P Zero tyres.

Apart from the racing prototype, the roadgoing version of the Mustang MachE sits on Pirelli P Zero, developed with Elect technology for electric and hybrid vehicles, whose performance is strongly influenced by their tyres.

The spectacular Matterley Basin circuit hosted the eleventh round of the 2016 FIM Motocross World Championship. The British track - located in a green ‘bowl’ setting near the town of Winchester – features medium/ hard soil that showcased the excellent performance of the SCORPION™ MX32™ and the tyres that allowed Pirelli their eleventh Grand Prix win in both classes and to continue their 100% record in 2016. Tim Gajser won again in the MXGP class by owning both motos. At Matterley Basin the Slovenian preferred the SCORPION™ MX32™ 120/90-19 on the rear that allowed him to manage the power of his CRF450R, while on the front he used - like all Pirelli’s riders - the SCORPION™ MX32™ 80 / 100-21. Thanks to his sixth victory of the season, Gajser has consolidated his lead in the championship with 74 points over the unfortunate Romain Febvre who missed the races on Sunday after a heavy crash on Saturday. The world champion will miss also the next Grand Prix of Lombardia at Mantova in Italy. An excellent second place was secured by Max Nagl who, unlike Gajser, opted for a SCORPION™ MX32™ 110/90-19 rear. It was an unlucky day for Antonio Cairoli; second in the first moto the Italian then suffered a sore wrist after a hard landing from the quad jump in the second race and finished sixth overall. Jeffrey Herlings was once again unbeatable in the MX2 class. The strong Dutch rider raced with Pirelli SCORPION™ MX32™ 110/90-19 rear and SCORPION™ MX32™ 80/100-21 front and won both motos to extend his advantage in the championship standings. Second place belonged to Dylan Ferrandis, equipped by the same Pirelli tyres as the winner, in front of Pauls Jonass. Several mistakes kept Jeremy Seewer off the podium and in fourth overall but the Swiss still defends second place in the championship. Saturday's Qualifying Heat winner Max Anstie grabbed fifth position at his home Grand Prix. Next weekend the riders will tackle the Grand Prix of Lombardia which will be hosted on the sandy "Tazio Nuvolari" circuit in Mantova, Italy. Race results: MXGP Race 1 1. GAJSER Tim (SLO) 2. CAIROLI Antonio (ITA) 3. GUILLOD Valentin (SUI) 4. BOBRYSHEV Evgeny (RUS) 5. PAULIN Gautier (FRA) MXGP race 2 1. GAJSER Tim (SLO) 2. NAGL Max (GER) 3. PAULIN Gautier (FRA) 4.DESALLE Clement (BEL) 5. BOBRYSHEV Evgeny (RUS) MX2 race 1 1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED) 2. FERRANDIS Dylan (FRA) 3. SEEWER Jeremy (SUI) 4. JONASS Pauls (LAT) 5. MEWSE Conrad (GBR) MX2 race 2 1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED) 2. FERRANDIS Dylan (FRA) 3. JONASS Pauls (LAT) 4. ANSTIE Max (GBR) 5. SEEWER Jeremy (SUI) GP Overall: MXGP 1. GAJSER Tim (SLO) 2. NAGL Max (GER) 3.PAULIN Gautier (FRA) 4. BOBRYSHEV Evgeny (RUS) 5. GUILLOD Valentin (SUI) MX2 1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED) 2. FERRANDIS Dylan (FRA) 3. JONASS Pauls (LAT) 4. SEEWER Jeremy (SUI) 5. ANSTIE Max (GBR) Championship overall: MXGP 1. GAJSER Tim (SLO) p.482 2. FEBVRE Romain (FRA) p.408 3. CAIROLI Antonio (ITA) p.405 4. NAGL Maximilian (GER) p.378 5.BOBRYSHEV Evgeny (RUS)p.367 6. VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy (BEL) p.321 MX2 1. HERLINGS Jeffrey (NED) p.547 2. SEEWER Jeremy (SUI) p.399 3. JONASS Pauls (LAT) p.370 4. TONKOV Aleksandr (RUS) p.298 5. PATUREL Benoit (FRA) p.293 6. FERRANDIS Dylan (FRA) p.273

Pirelli has won the FIA European Hillclimb Championship in its first year of competition with Italian driver Simone Faggioli, who helped to develop the all-new tyres. Faggioli, who drives a Norma M20 FC Zytek in the top class of the championship, won his eighth title at Ilirska Bistrica in Slovenia, at the latest round of the championship last weekend. The new Pirelli hillclimb tyre comes in two versions: slick (with soft and supersoft compounds available) and Cinturato rain, equipping all the classes in the sport. The tyres come in 250/575-13 and 315/660-13 sizes, using some of the techniques and technology carried over from Formula One. All these tyres proved to be victorious this year, including the rain tyres that dominated at a wet round in Switzerland. The P Zero soft tyres also won the longest hillclimb event in Europe: Trento Bondone in Italy, which is 17.3 kilometres long and climbs to an altitude of 1650 metres. In total, the supersoft tyres were used in six races so far, the soft tyres in one, and the rain tyres in one. Faggioli enjoyed a masterful season, lowering the course record at every circuit on the calendar to underline his leadership from start to finish. The 37-year-old sealed the title in Slovenia with one round still to go. He commented: “I’m particularly happy because Pirelli entered the championship for the first time this year, and together we emerged as the winners. So many thanks to Pirelli for this opportunity!” Pirelli’s product manager Terenzio Testoni said: “Many congratulations to Simone for a fantastic championship victory: we feel incredibly proud to share in his success. Hillclimbing is new to us this year: it’s a growing discipline that is in fact very hard to develop tyres for. The races are short so the tyres have to provide instant performance with a rapid warm-up, in a very wide variety of conditions all over Europe. This presents a big challenge, and we’re delighted to have met it in our first season of hillclimb competition.” The next round of the FIA European Hillclimb Championship takes place at the 34th Buzetski Dani in Croatia from 19-20 September.

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Follow us on Twitter: @pirellisport or Facebook: Pirelli Motorsport. Please also visit the Pirelli website: www.pirelli.com. For further information please contact: Anthony Peacock • +44 7765 896 930 • anthony@mediaticaworld.com