Scorpion stands up well to Rally Mexico

Peter Tyson, Pirelli’s motorsport marketing director, says he is ‘very satisfied’ by the performance of the company’s new gravel tyre on Rally Mexico.

The new Scorpion tyre will be used on all gravel events in 2008 and was the third new product to be introduced by the company in as many rallies. It followed the PZero which made a successful debut on Rallye Monte Carlo and the Sottozero which did the same on the Swedish Rally.

“They overcame an extremely tough test,” said Tyson. “Running on stages that were littered with sharp stones, in high temperatures, and with a very rapid pace from all the Citroen, 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.”

Before the rally some drivers had voiced concerns about whether the new rubber would stand up to the punishing, rocky stages - especially after the banning this year of anti-deflation mousse systems. But by Sunday afternoon the majority of competitors said they were happy with the way the tyres had worked. Rally winner Sebastien Loeb spoke for many when he said: “To tell the truth, there’s not much to say as the new tyres worked very well for me here; end of story.”

Punctures for Mikko Hirvonen and Henning Solberg proved the tyres weren’t completely indestructible, however, but with one of the toughest rallies out of the way, concerns about the durability of the new tyres seem to have been put to rest.