Two Pirelli Cars On Podium In Sardinia

Olbia (I), 1 May 2005 - The Pirelli-equipped Subaru of Petter Solberg has finished second behind Sebastien Loeb's Citroen on the all-gravel Rally d'Italia-Sardinia, having maintained the runner-up spot from the first day. The Peugeot-Pirelli of Marcus Gronholm is third, making two Pirelli crews on the podium. Together with Markko Martin's fourth place, this has allowed Peugeot-Pirelli to extend their lead of the World Rally Championship for manufacturers. Conditions on day three of the Rally d'Italia (round five of the World Rally Championship) were once more hot and rocky, with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees centigrade. The stages consisted of soft and fine gravel over a harder base. Solberg concentrated on consolidating his second place today, after losing some time to an on-form Sebastien Loeb on the opening leg. With 75% of this year's route new, and tyres having to be nominated more than a week in advance, the KM rubber which all the Pirelli teams chose was not always entirely suitable for the second run through repeated stages. Fiorenzo Brivio, Pirelli's rally manager, commented: "The biggest challenge all the teams faced was the fact that this rally was much rougher and hotter than was anticipated at the time when the tyres had to be nominated over a week ago. We placed our hopes on the KM, the dominant tyre in 2004. But the eventual conditions did not always favour this tyre, and so our drivers lost some time on the opening afternoon, from which they were not able to recover. But we've still managed to put two cars on the podium, which is always a good result. I'd like to congratulate Petter Solberg on an excellent drive, and Peugeot for extending their lead in the constructors championship. Now we are looking forward to the three hot and rough gravel rallies in the Mediterranea, where we have always been strong. Some exciting new developments are in place for our rough gravel tyres, which we are confident will yield good results." Rally d'Italia-Sardinia (round 5/16) - Final classification 1 Loeb-Elena Citroen Xsara WRC 4h06m33.7s 2 Solberg-Mills Subaru Impreza WRC +59.6s 3 Gronholm-Rautiainen Peugeot 307 WRC +3m07.3s 4 Martin-Park Peugeot 307 WRC +4m12.3s 5 Gardemeister-Honkanen Ford Focus WRC +8m29.3s 6 Kresta-Mozny Ford Focus WRC+9m29.2s 7 Warmbold-Orr Ford Focus WRC +9m59.8s 8 Pykalisto-Ovaskainen Citroen Xsara WRC +10m21.2s 9 Stohl-Minor Citroen Xsara WRC +10m35.6s 10 Higgins-Agnew Ford Focus WRC +12m21.1 Drivers Championship: 1 Loeb 35; 2 Solberg 34 ; 3 Martin 28 ; 4 Gronholm 26 ; 5 Gardemeister 24; 6 Rovanpera 11 ; 7 Panizzi & Kresta 7; 9 Duval 5; 10 Galli & Carlsson & Stohl 3 Manufacturers: 1 Peugeot 54 ; 2 Citroen 41; 3 Subaru 36 ; 4 Ford 30; 5 Mitsubishi 24 ; 6 Skoda 4 Next round : Rally Cyprus, 13-15 May For more information and pictures on Pirelli's motorsport activities visit: www.pirellicompetizioni.com