Dijon: Pirelli race report

PIRELLI SCORES DOUBLE WIN AT DIJON

Davies-Biagi Earn Maserati's Fourth 2006 Victory;
Melo-Bobbi Win GT2 Class in Ferrari.

DIJON, France, Sept.3, 2006 Pirelli returned to success in the season's sixth round of the international FIA-GT Championship thanks to the Maserati MC12 driven by Davies-Biagi who dominated the race. The P Zero Racing tires also triumphed in the hard-fought GT2 category with the Ferrari 430 GTC of Melo-Bobbi, who once more led their class from start to finish. The other Pirelli-shod Maserati in the hands of Bertolini-Bartels took fifth place after running second for much of the race, before having to give way to cars with less ballast on board. The 85 kilos of dead weight markedly slowed the second MC12, but it still leads the Drivers' championship. Behind the #1 Maserati came the two Pirelli-fitted DBR9s of BMS Aston Martin Racing, driven by Babini- Pescatori and Ramos-Gollin.

Jamie Davies, who drove yet another race without error, praised his tires. "The new soft tires that Pirelli Competizioni delivered yesterday really did their job well", said the British driver- engineer. " Their performance throughout all the driving stints and the wear resistance were Pirelli's winning cards and made all the difference in our car's competitiveness".

There was also a similar situation in the GT2 class, in which the Ferrari 430 GTC of AF Corse took the first and third places on the podium. Jaime Melo, who drove #58 Ferrari to victory together with Matteo Bobbi, remarked, "Pirelli did some excellent work in little more than 10 days to enable us to climb to the top of the Drivers' and Team classifications and I am sure we can count on further evolutions of the P Zero Racing tires for the race at Mugello in two weeks' time".

Pirelli Competizioni Circuit Manager, Pierluigi De Cancellis, did not hide his satisfaction with the results achieved at Dijon. "The double victory of the P Zero Racing tires demonstrates the effectiveness of the development work carried out by Pirelli's technicians, enabling us to offer our teams a product of superior quality," he commented. "The new soft compound was the winning choice here at Dijon, but it is obvious that we shall not rest on our laurels with the 500 Km of Mugello on the horizon. However, winning with Maserati and Ferrari and seeing the progress of the DBR9s of Aston Martin Racing-BMS both comforts and further motivates us".

-credit: www.pirelli.com