Pirelli Introduces Upgraded Wet Tire for Dakar Rally and GT Racing Series
Dakar, GT, and Porsche Dakar News
In a move aimed at enhancing performance and consistency, Pirelli has unveiled an “upgrade” to its wet tire offering for the SRO Motorsports Group’s GT3 racing series. The new tire construction package will make its debut at the prestigious TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa, the first step in a global rollout across various GT championships.
The Italian tire manufacturer has developed this upgraded wet tire in response to the growing gap between the performance of its PZero DHE slick tire and the treaded wet counterpart. Pirelli’s racing technical manager, Matteo Braga, explained that the slick tires have undergone several stages of development, while the wet tires have seen less attention.
“The gap between slicks and wet now is a bit wider than before. I think that was something that was not taken into consideration. Our plan is we have an upgrade of the existing product. It’s not a big change,” Braga stated.
The upgraded wet tire was put to the test by teams during the official Spa test on Tuesday and will be made available for the upcoming 24-hour race in July. Following the Spa event, the new wet tire construction will be rolled out across the remaining rounds of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS championship.
Braga emphasized that the primary focus of the upgrade was on the tire construction, rather than a complete overhaul of the product. The goal is to ensure a more cohesive balance between the car’s handling characteristics when transitioning from slick to wet tires.
“With the new product, it should be more in-line with what you do for the slicks. So if you have a certain balance with the slicks, you change to wet and you should find the same balance,” Braga explained.
The wet tire upgrade was already being discussed last year, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its introduction during the 2021 season. Pirelli has now devised a plan to implement the upgrade at each GT World Challenge series’ corresponding Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli event.
While the rollout in Europe and America is set to be seamless, the cancelation of the Suzuka 10 Hours has raised uncertainty over the timeline for the Asian market. Pirelli’s goal is to introduce the latest wet tire to all regional markets by early 2022, ensuring a consistent experience for teams and drivers across the globe.
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