GTP To Deliver Closer Racing With New Pirelli Control Tyre Deal

GTP To Deliver Closer Racing With New Pirelli Control Tyre Deal

Feb 08, 2007

A Tighter battle for the 2007 Australian Performance Car Championship (GTP) is expected to follow the announcement today that all cars in the series will have to race on identical Pirelli “control” tyres.

Series Organiser Craig Nayda announced that Pirelli motorsport distributor Trofeo Motorsport has won a tender to provide tyres and event technical support to GTP for the next three seasons.

“The decision to run just one specification of tyre on all the widely-varying production-based touring cars in GTP eliminates a major performance variable and will create much closer racing,” Mr Nayda said.

“It ensures our teams benefit both technically and financially, especially those which choose to support the category throughout the year.”

Cars in the Outright class will race on Pirelli slick dry-weather or grooved wet-weather tyres, while the Privateers Cup class will use road-legal Pirelli P Zero Corsa or P Zero C tyres. A wide range of sizes is available between 16 inch and 19 inch diameters.

As a part of the three-year deal, Outright competitors will receive a 10 percent discount off the retail price of their tyres, with championship-registered teams receiving a further 10 percent rebate. Outright cars will be allowed to use up to six new or used slick tyres per round.

All Privateers’ Cup entrants will receive a massive 35 percent retail discount at the time of purchase, with championship-registered competitors again entitled to an additional 10 percent. Privateers may use up to four new and one used tyre per round.

In addition, GTP has announced its registration fees for the 2007 season, which see competitors participating for as little as $1500 per round in the Outright class and $900 in Privateers’ Cup, substantially less than that of other high-profile national championships.

The tyre deal and inexpensive championship registration fees provide a strong financial incentive to enter, Mr Nayda said.

“We now have an exciting package in place for competitors for 2007 and beyond promising great racing and sustainable costs,” he said.

“The combination of an exciting calendar built around the popular V8 Supercar Series, extensive coverage of all rounds of the championship on Channel Seven, simplified technical regulations minimising the need for performance parity adjustments, a level playing field for all competitors and significant financial benefits via the control tyre deal and the highly-competitive registration costs is very appealing to both existing and potential new teams.”

The GTP series, featuring popular high performance cars such as the Holden HSV GTS, Ford Falcon GT and F6 Typhoon, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Subaru Impreza STi and BMW M3, will run over eight rounds at V8 Supercar events including the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the Lexmark Indy 300 and Tasmania.