Pirelli's commitment to motor racing
As well as Formula 1®, Pirelli is also the tyre supplier for... a whole world of races!
Pirelli is involved in 224 motor racing championships, from open competitions - in some cases featuring more than 20 different constructors - to single-marque trophies featuring some of the most biggest global brands, like the Ferrari Challenge and the Lamborgini Super Trofeo.
All these events add up to more than 1,100 races all over the world, involving approximately 1,000 Pirelli people between engineers, track technicians and dedicated staff at Research and Development.Numbers which demonstrate Pirelli's total commitment to motorsport.
Championships which travel the world, all featuring the Pirelli brand
A perfect example of Pirelli's involvement in motor racing is Spa 24 Hours, the crowning jewel of the Blancpain GT Series. The race features some 65 competitors on the track and Pirelli supplies more than 10,000 tyres, with a tyre change made on average every one and a half minutes.
The main GT championships involving Pirelli are those promoted by SRO: the biggest is the Blancpain GT Series, which uses GT3 cars similar to road supercars, all fitted with Pirelli tyres. The Blancpain championship has a packed calendar of sprint and endurance events throughout Europe, as well as a new Asian series and various national GT championships.
Pirelli also supplies the new GT4 European Series, which features track cars closer to ones you'll find on the road. It's no surprise then, that for Pirelli, races like the Nürburgring 24 Hours, Gulf 12 Hours and the Bathurst 12 Hours are perfect proving grounds for testing its tyres, combining performance and endurance.
Pirelli also features in the British GT and Italian GT, as well as the FIA GT World Cup in Macau and the ADAC GT Masters in Germany. And in America the Pirelli World Challenge brings together premium and prestige car manufacturers from around the world.
Europe, Asia and America host the Ferrari Challenge and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, two single-marque championships with Pirelli as their exclusive tyre supplier.
The "king" of all these competitions is the P Zero slick, used primarily as a hard compound to deal with all the requirements of the tracks, race distances, constructors and various types of racing cars. For races on the wet, Pirelli provides grooved tyres, equipped with a special tread to efficiently disperse excess water.
Some of the best drivers in the world have raced with Pirelli in GT, including Alex Zanardi, who starred in the Blancpain GT Series, Bruno Senna, the nephew of the great Ayrton, Davide Valsecchi, GP2 champion, and Stephane Ortelli winner at Le Mans.
Pirelli's motor racing portfolio doesn't stop with GT, extending all the way to stock car series. Of these, Stock Car Brazil is probably the most important, with various ex-F1® drivers competing, including Rubens Barrichello.