WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – In what may have been P Zero’s best Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series performance so far this season, Scott Pruett set the track record on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International road course in the No. 01 TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley on Friday, before joining his teammate Memo Rojas in dominating Saturday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen endurance race. The victory was the first of the season for the reigning Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Champions.

“Pirelli did a great job,” said Pruett, who has won the Sahlen’s Six Hours an impressive three times. “This is probably – from my view point – one of Pirelli’s best performances that I have experienced. We just kept going faster and faster through out the run. The car stayed consistent and it stayed fast.”

Pruett also set the race’s fastest lap on lap 178, and combined with Rojas to lead an amazing 142 of the race’s 188 laps from the pole. However, they were pressured in the late stages by the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara of Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle. While chasing Pruett near race-end, Angelelli set his team’s fastest lap just five laps from the finish.

“The Pirellis were fantastic,” Angelelli said. “When you consider our fastest lap time of the race was on tires that we put through two stints, that says a lot. The durability of the Pirellis was very good.”

The Ganassi and SunTrust drivers are now knotted in a four-way tie for first in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Championship with 140 points apiece.

The No. 12 Verizon Wireless/Penske Racing Porsche Riley of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard finished third in Saturday’s race. Having amassed 134 points so far this season, the Penske duo is now tied for third in the championship with No. 99 GAINSCO Auto Insurance Pontiac Riley drivers Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who failed to finish Saturday’s race after a contact incident.

In the GT class, 2007 Grand-Am Rolex Series GT Champion Dirk Werner joined Leh Keen in winning their second of the last three races in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3. Like the Ganassi team in Daytona Prototypes, the winning GT race car also started the race at the head of the field after Werner won his first career Grand-Am Rolex Series pole. It was the first Grand-Am pole for Porsche in 2009.

“The Pirelli tires were awesome for us,” said Werner, who took the GT class points lead with Keen. “We could do consistent lap times through the whole stint. Our set up really worked good and I think that really helped the Pirelli tires because we didn’t have to abuse them too much to do fast laps times. Today, the tires were really perfect for our car, maybe the best yet.”

Werner and Keen edged the second place No. 07 Banner Racing Pontiac GXP.R of Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards while the second No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 of Wolf Henzler and Eric Lux finished third. The top six GT finishers all completed 178 laps.

“We were really happy with the way everything went,” Keen said. “We really saw some great, great times and pace at the end of our stints with the Pirellis, so we were happy with that. In the end, we could push hard and run fast lap times still, and that is when it really matters.”

Next up for Pirelli and the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series is the EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The twilight race can be seen live on SPEED at 5 p.m. ET, Sunday, June 20.

Pirelli Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures and markets tires for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement markets as well as markets and distributes tires for motorcycles and motorsports. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets. For more information please visit www.us.pirelli.com.

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Media Contacts:
Rafael Navarro, Director Communications & Motorsports
951-533-0305 rafael.navarro@pirelli.com

Joe Severns, Public Relations Manager
706-506-2195 joe.severns@pirelli.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 4, 2009

P ZERO RETURNS TO ENDURANCE RACING THIS WEEKEND AT WATKINS GLEN

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Round 5 of the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 begins at Watkins Glen this Saturday for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen – Grand-Am’s first endurance race since January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Coverage of this weekend’s six-hour endurance race on the historic 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International road course will be broadcast live on SPEED in two parts: beginning 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT), Saturday, June 6, continuing again live at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT) until the checkered flag flies.

To meet the challenge of a full field of Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype and GT cars in what basically amounts to an all-out six hour sprint race, Pirelli Tire North America already has in place at Watkins Glen a full complement of P Zero racing tires and ample support personnel and equipment. The massive effort includes 2,200 P Zero racing slicks, 800 P Zero rain tires, seven tire engineers, 20 technicians and seven support trucks.

“I think the Pirelli tire has just been outstanding this year,” said former Daytona Prototype race-winner Michael Valiante – in his first year with the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley team. “It (P Zero) has been extremely quick and very consistent. There really isn’t anything else I can think that you could possibly ask for out of a tire. They have been excellent.”

Valiante – who finished second at VIR and set the fastest race lap right at the checkered flag at New Jersey Motorsports Park – teams with John Pew, who was part of the winning driver line-up that took the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley to victory in last year’s season-ending 1000K race at Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.

At about seven hours in length, the Utah race is similar in strategy and approach to the Sahlen’s Six Hours. That bodes well for Michael Shank Racing as the team’s No. 60 Riley also won at Miller in 2006 with Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mark Patterson behind the wheel. Both Shank entries have shown well at Watkins Glen in the past and each team is looking for its first win Saturday. Patterson knows that the Pirelli P Zeros will be up to the task.

“The endurance and reliability of the Pirelli product is second to none,” said Patterson, in his fifth season co-driving with Negri. “Drivers need to know they can rely on the tires early in the stint when they are still fresh and the fuel load is at the maximum, and later when the fuel load is lighter and each pass makes or breaks your rankings in the championship. This is crucial in endurance racing when you may opt to not change tires in a tight pit stop window and instead stretch a set of tires to the end of the race.”

While Shank’s Daytona Prototype entries will be seeking their first victories at Watkins Glen this weekend, the GT team that captured its maiden win at the track last year in the Sahlen’s Six Hours will be looking for a repeat Saturday. The No. 69 FXDD/SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Emil Assentato, Nick Longhi and Jeff Segal won its first ever race in last year’s six hour classic and the Pirelli P Zeros were there for the trio all the way to the checkered flag. Segal also put the No. 69 Mazda on the GT pole for the first time in that race.

“The Pirellis have always impressed us. Not only with their speed and grip out of the box, but also with their consistency,” said Segal, who joins the team for the endurance races. “Last year at Watkins Glen we were obviously pretty quick and won the pole; but the more important fact was that we were able to lap quickly throughout a stint, even in high temperatures. When we set up the car, our aim is always to have a car that doesn’t fall off at the end of a long hard stint. The Pirelli tires have always complemented this goal very nicely.”

Like Segal, Longhi has experience with Pirellis in the Ferrari Challenge series, and he was also impressed with the Grand-Am P Zeros at The Glen last year.

“Last year, excellent wear from our Pirelli tires was key to our pace at Watkins Glen,” said Longhi, who is Assentato’s full-season teammate. “Our FXDD/SpeedSource Mazda was as fast at the end of a stint as it was at the beginning – and that is a credit to Pirelli’s work as much as to the chassis set-up Marty Kintzi and David Haskell put on the car. SpeedSource, Mazda and Pirelli make for a great combination, and we could not be happier with the contribution Pirelli has made”.

Pirelli Tire North America designs, develops, manufactures and markets tires for passenger vehicles in both the original equipment and replacement markets as well as markets and distributes tires for motorcycles and motorsports. Located in Rome, Georgia, Pirelli’s Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) employs state-of-the-art technology to manufacture tires for both export and domestic markets. For more information please visit www.us.pirelli.com.

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Media Contacts:
Rafael Navarro, Director Communications & Motorsports
951-533-0305 rafael.navarro@pirelli.com

Joe Severns, Public Relations Manager
706-506-2195 joe.severns@pirelli.com