The Orange1 FFF Racing #563 Lamborghini won the final Blancpain Endurance Cup race of the season in Barcelona, helping the team to seal the overall and Endurance Cup titles with 185 points. The crew of Andrea Caldarelli, Marco Mapelli and Albert Costa, who replaced the unwell Dennis Lind, started third on the grid following qualifying, but eventually moved up to first spot to take the chequered flag.
Pirelli is bringing its rubber to Paul Ricard as it plays host to the third round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the fourth round of the overall championship this weekend. The GT4 European Series and Blancpain GT Sports Club will feature too, both of which also run on Pirelli tyres. The endurance grid will feature 49 cars piloted by 147 drivers during the six-hour race, whichever comes first. There will be 10 manufacturers on the grid: Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, Lexus, Mercedes and Porsche. All will run on Pirelli’s P Zero DHD2 slick tyres for the dry and the Cinturato WH for the wet.
We’re not sure whether a world record exists for the largest tyre logo – it’s a question that has never come up here at Tyrepress.com – but if there is, Pirelli must surely be in the running to claim it. The tyre maker has brought no less than 41 cars together in Monza to recreate a portrayal of the Pirelli logo made in 1978. A dozen prestige marques and 22,000 horsepower went into creating the 80-metre-long, 18-metre-tall logo.
The GRT Grasser Racing Team claimed Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and overall titles with a third-place finish in the final race at Barcelona with its Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The result gave Grasser’s Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Andrea Caldarelli the drivers’ Endurance title, while Bortolotti and Engelhart became the overall Blancpain GT Series drivers’ champions, which also considers results in the Sprint Cup.
Following a closely-fought one-hour race at the Nürburgring in Germany, Audi claimed both the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup drivers’ and team titles, as well as the race win. The overall Sprint Cup drivers’ title went to Stuart Leonard and Robin Frijns, who also won the race overall in the #17 Audi R8 LMS. However, it was another Audi of Belgian Audi Club Team WRT that clinched the overall Sprint Cup team title, with Marcel Fassler and Dries Vanthoor finishing the race 10th to secure the teams’ championship: adding up to a highly-successful weekend for the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer.
The latest round of the Pirelli-supplied Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup was won by the WRT Audi crew of Marcel Fassler and Dries Vanthoor, who stamped their authority on the 60-minute main race, having started from pole following success in Saturday’s qualifying race. The main race was extremely closely-fought, with the top six cars covered […]
Pirelli will bring around 3,000 P Zero tyres to Silverstoe for the second round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. The P Zero DHD will be fitted to the entire Blancpain GT grid, provisionally of 55 cars, while the DH slick will be supplied to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. With rain a possibility, Pirelli will also bring its WH tyre for all categories.
GRT Grasser Racing Team has won the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Monza in its #63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3, using the Pirelli P Zero DHD tyre. The drivers making up the team were Christian Engelhart, Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti. In race two of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, also run on 23 April, Antonelli Motorsport drivers Loris Spinelli and Mikael Grenier emerged victorious.
Pirelli is sole tyre supplier for the 2017 Blancpain GT Series, which commences at Misano, Italy this weekend. The manufacturer has developed its tyre range for the series, including a new P Zero DHD for GT3, the P Zero DH for GT4, and the WH for wet conditions; the latter tyre could see early use as rain is forecast for Sunday in Misano. Pirelli will bring 2,000 P Zero DHDs and 629 P Zero DHs to Misano for a provisional grid of 34 GT3 cars, plus 24 extra cars in GT4 and the GT sports club. The series includes many of the premium and prestige marques for which Pirelli also provides original equipment on the road. In total, eight different models will be represented from seven different automotive brands.
Pirelli has renewed its range of products for GT racing at the Blancpain GT Series’ official test and media days at Paul Ricard, France. The main category of the Blancpain GT Series, with Pirelli as a long-term partner, is GT3, in which 15 brands are represented with 28 different models of car. The new slick tyre for the 2017 Blancpain GT Series, which takes in both sprint and endurance races, is called the P Zero DHD. Its new front and rear construction makes the tyre more suitable for the current field of GT3 cars, including a new profile, an optimised contact patch, and a new front size: 325/680-18 (previously 315/680-18).
The Blancpain GT Series Asia, a new race series that commences next year, will exclusively run on Pirelli tyres. The Italian tyre firm is a long-term partner to the Blancpain GT Series within Europe, and considers the agreement to supply the Asia championship “the next logical step in a vital growing market for ultra-high performance tyres.”
With 9000 tyres transported by 21 trucks, and involving 90 Pirelli personnel on the ground as well as many more away from the circuit, Pirelli will face its biggest logistical engagement in motorsport this weekend at the Spa 24 Hours. The Blancpain GT Series highlight will see Pirelli fly in motorsport staff from Italy, expertise from countries as far afield as the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Australia – all territories where the manufacturer has a key presence in major GT or stock car championships. Pirelli is the exclusive supplier to the Blancpain series.
