Pirelli have confirmed that their drivers will benefit from a new tyre in Argentina this weekend, as they look to break BF Goodrich's strangle hold on the sport.
BF Goodrich have won all five events to date, since replacing the Michelin brand, while Pirelli have struggled. As such the Italian tyre manufacturer will be pulling out all the stops and have developed a new tyre based on the KP, which apparently improves steering precision and stability due to a reduction in tread block movement.
"The results of our latest test driving auger well for a rally that will see us start in highly competitive form, as seen with [Petter] Solberg and the Subaru in March in Mexico [when he finished second]," said Pirelli Rally manager, Mario Isola. "With the latest P Zero we have developed for the loose surfaces of the Argentinean pampas, we have completed a range of tyres for WRC cars on Pirelli that should enable our drivers to battle on equal terms for the placing that count with all the competitors on our oppositions' tyres."
In Argentina, Pirelli P Zero tyres will also be fitted to the cars of several top drivers in the Production Car WRC. Among them are Marcos Ligato, Gabriel Pozzo and Sebastian Beltran, competing with the Tango Rally Team's Mitsubishi Lancers, and two Subaru Impreza stars: Toshi Arai and Leszek Kuzaj.
BF Goodrich's rallies programme manager, Aim Chatard meanwhile believes that versatility will be the key on the tyre front.
"Rally Argentina is a cocktail of slippery ground if it rains on the higher ground, sandy roads in the valley bottoms and some particularly rocky stages, like Mina Clavero and El Condor. Tyres need to be versatile, and durable too to cope with groups of up to 80km of stages," he confirmed.
Friday morning's 80km loop is the principal topic of conversation for the tyre manufacturers since it has never previously been contested in one go. In 2003, at least one stage - or part of a stage - had to be cancelled by the organisers.
"Even so, the wear rate recorded reached around 80 per cent. The 23km Capilla del Monte-San Marcos stage (SS4) had around 16km of buried rocks," recalled Patrick Letort, who is in charge of the team of technicians. Both the first and second (75km) groups of stages could well spring a few surprises too. The early part of the rally is consequently fairly risky.
"The suspension and tyres will need to work in perfect harmony over the 80km loop," warned Chatard. "It mustn't be forgotten that tyres are the final element of the drive train and are in direct contact with the ground. If the way the suspension works isn't optimised, it can lead to loss of grip which can in turn lead to more wheelspin and therefore extra tyre wear."
