Stars and Stripes motorsport for Pirelli

Pirelli is set to kick off another busy motorsport season in 2024, with partnerships with several renown competitions in the U.S. and across North America. Pirelli will collaborate with the organizers of 10 major North American motorsport championships, with almost 40 Pirelli and partner personnel committed to over 100 races, supplying more than 30,000 tires throughout the course of the season.

With the brand's century-long history in the automotive industry, Pirelli continues to drive innovation in motorsports as an extension of its research and development work for road tires. Only by pushing the limits of competitive performance on the track can Pirelli's Ultra High-Performance (UHP) tires be designed for the ultimate experience on the road. This “open-air laboratory” approach fosters innovation globally for Pirelli, though North America provides a unique opportunity with all but one major competition's vehicles closely resembling the make-up of street vehicles.

Through its extensive relationships with more than 350 racing championships worldwide, Pirelli is positioned as one of the industry's top research and development investors via motorsports that allow for its competitive products to be as closely aligned to road car tires as possible.

Motorsports in North America is experiencing a period of major growth, thanks above all to the interest generated by Formula 1. The top automotive competition has five events scheduled in 2024 in North America, with three Grands Prix being hosted in the United States (Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas) and two more split between Montreal, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico.

Pirelli has been a protagonist in the FIA Formula One World Championship as a Global Tire Partner since 2011 and will continue until at least 2027, having recently renewed its partnership with the FIA and Formula 1. It is also a global partner in the promotion of this competition throughout the world thanks to numerous initiatives, not only on the track. Among these are projects aimed at the growth of the next generation of young drivers in all the different preparatory series - specifically, Formula 2 and Formula 3.

Pirelli continues its partnership with the SRO series, cementing its role as tire supplier to the various ultra-competitive races under the SRO umbrella. The wide array of GT racing includes championships dedicated to GT3, GT2, GT4, and Touring Cars. The 2024 race season kicks off with the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS in California's famous Sonoma Raceway on April 5-7, 2024. The whole of SRO Motorsports America – Fanatec World Challenge America presented by AWS, Pirelli GT4 America, TC America Powered by Skip Barber Racing School and GT America powered by AWS will then roll through iconic racetracks including Sebring and Road America, and cap off the season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 4-6, 2024.

Now in its third year providing 18-inch tires for the Trans Am Series TA Class, Pirelli will continue to glean valuable feedback for road car tire development as it simultaneously raises the ceiling of speed, performance and intensity for competing drivers in 2024.

The 2024 season kicks off at Sebring International Raceway on February 22-25. Now in their eighth season of motorsports partnership, this latest season is another notch in the belt for Pirelli as the brand looks to strengthen bonds with the manufacturers of America's classic performance muscle cars and the broader car culture with Trans Am. 

Together with the Trans Am races, Pirelli also continues its historic partnership with SVRA – the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association. SVRA, the largest vintage racing organization in the United States open to virtually any vintage or historic race car, will share a number of key dates with the Trans Am Series as part of the ‘Speed Tour'.

Crossing the pond for the first time ever, the Ginetta Challenge transports an illustrious UK racing name to the U.S. in partnership with Pirelli as sole tire supplier. The British sports car juggernaut brings its prestige as a bastion of automotive craftsmanship to North American tracks, giving Pirelli the opportunity to support a new and unique competition similarly focused on translating innovation from race cars to street cars.

The Ginetta Challenge, which will be operated by SVRA, is a single-make championship for the Ginetta G56 GTA car - a. Roughly following the Trans Am series schedule, the competition will feature a demonstration event at Sebring on February 22-25, followed by the official season launch at Road Atlanta on March 21-24.

Pirelli continues its role as tire supplier for International GT, a North American racing series for Ferrari and Porsche models made up of The Stuttgart Cup, Mission Foods GT3 Cup Trophy and The Maranello Cup championships. This now marks a decade of partnership with the series, as the Pirelli's involvement with International GT kicked off in 2014.

The International GT racing calendar similarly follows the SVRA timeline, with the racing series first putting rubber to pavement in Sebring on February 22, and wrapping up once again at a sacred American motorsports heritage site in Daytona International Speedway, at a date yet to be determined in late 2024.

Key parts of the Pirelli USA program are also the P Zero-equipped single-make championships including the Ferrari Challenge and the Championship of the Porsche Club of America (PCA).

The Ferrari Challenge North America kicks off at the Circuit of the Americas on April 24-28, and traverses the continent with races at Road America, Sonoma Raceway, Circuit of the Americas and many others. Of note, the previously driven Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo race car will be replaced this season by the revolutionary Ferrari 296 Challenge.

The Championship of the Porsche Club of America, in a renewed three-year partnership with Pirelli, will bring together many of the PCA's 175,000 members to cheer on more than 2,000 licensed racers competing across a similar assortment of historic tracks across the U.S., including Watkins Glen International in upstate New York, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and several others. As the title sponsor of this single-make motorsports series, Pirelli continues to build on a strong partnership with Porsche that spans decades of both competitive and road car collaborations. The PCA club racing season begins today at Sebring.