Pirelli was 'very satisfied' with the performance of its new 'Scorpion' tyre on the Corona Rally Mexico last weekend.
The event was the first of the year on gravel and with most of the rounds in the
FIA World Rally Championship taking place on the loose it was an important test for the Italian manufacturer.
Speaking at the finish Peter Tyson, Pirelli motorsport's marketing director, said he was very happy: "I am very satisfied with the results of the Scorpion tyre's debut in Mexico," he stated. "They overcame an extremely tough test, running on stages that were littered with sharp stones, in high temperatures, and with a very rapid pace from all the Citroën,
Subaru and Ford drivers.
"The praise our tyres have received from both drivers and team managers is very satisfying for all of us, and it provides yet another demonstration of the qualities of our new Pirelli tyres."
Most of the drivers' meanwhile were pretty pleased with how their tyres performed too - especially as run-flat mousse has been outlawed this season. Indeed the top two - namely rally winner,
Sebastien Loeb and runner-up
Chris Atkinson - had no complaints.
"To tell the truth, there's not much to say as the Pirelli Scorpion tyres worked very well for me here; end of story," said Seb.
"On the first day I hit rocks and got no punctures, so that says something positive about the tyres," added Atkinson. "The performance was quite good and they worked well for us. We had no problems at all."
Not all the drivers' were quite so lucky however and
Mikko Hirvonen for example lost considerable time on day 2 with a double puncture in SS12.
Henning Solberg also suffered with a puncture in the final two stages, something that dropped him from fourth to fifth.
