Winning debut for Pirelli’s new P Zero asphalt rally tyre on the Canary Islands

Nils Solans wins Rally Islas Canarias, the latest round of the European Rally Championship, with Pirelli’s new P Zero RA5A dry asphalt tyre

Pirelli’s latest compound overcomes the extreme conditions seen on the hot Spanish event

Laurent Pellier makes his mark against strong competition in the Junior ERC

Pirelli’s new P Zero asphalt tyre has won on its debut thanks to Spanish Volkswagen Polo driver Nils Solans, after a hard-fought battle that went down to the final special stage.

The reliability and performance of this new tyre, developed by Pirelli to cope with dry and abrasive asphalt, was fundamental to the result – with Pirelli drivers Enrique Cruz also finishing fourth in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and Mas Bassas fifth in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo.

After dominating on Friday, Luis Monzon’s progress was unfortunately halted by a screw that got stuck in his Skoda’s tyre before today’s second special stage.

Terenzio Testoni, Pirelli’s Rally Activity Manager, said: “We’re very satisfied with this winning debut for our new tyre. Thanks to the experience gained on the World Rally Championship, as well as the new technologies developed by Pirelli’s research and development department, our latest product is able to offer greater performance and less wear even in the most extreme conditions, such as those seen in the Canaries, where temperatures have generally been very high this weekend.”

The RA5A is an evolution of the RA5, which has tasted plenty of success on the European Rally Championship over the last three years. It features a renewed tread compound as well as a new construction, with the aim of providing better performance and reliability on demanding dry and abrasive asphalt, even on longer stages with high temperatures.

Frenchman Laurent Pellier won the opening round of the Junior ERC – exclusively supplied by Pirelli – in an Opel Corsa Rally4, also coming first in the ERC4 category.