Summarize

Pirelli tyres scored its first Cross Country Racing victory in South Africa in only its second race, when new to SA Scorpion Rally rubber carried official winners, Lourens van Wyk and Cois Maré’s Toyota Hilux home to victory in the season-opening Northern Regions Barberspan 500 Production Vehicle race over the weekend.

The race also saw SA champions Leeroy Poulter and Rob Howie power their works Gazoo Racing Dakar Toyota Hilux to an unofficial win as they tested their car in anticipation of Poulter’s national championship comeback in Lichtenburg in three weeks time, also on Pirellis for the first time.

“I used the Pirellis on the weekend,” Poulter confirmed. “I thought the tyre had a lot of grip and the wear was very good and we had no punctures throughout the race — this tyre will be good for our local racing.”

Pirelli’s Scorpion Rally is rapidly becoming the tyre of choice in the new SACCS, with the Puma NWR Ford Performance team already opting to race on Scorpions this year, alongside a number of other teams, now including the Gazoo Toyota Hilux. 

“We were asked to supply tyres to the works Toyota Gazoo team for evaluation against some rival brands,” Pirelli South Africa motorsport manager Mark Eatwell confirmed. “So we were quite surprised to see Leeroy and Rob arrive and test-race on the Pirellis and we were delighted with the performance of the Scorpion Rally rubber on the Dakar machine.”

“Our new Pirelli Scorpion Rally off-road tyres not only offer brilliant performance, but they are also price competitive. "Pirelli also offers full fitment and support service at all 2017 races,” Eatwell concluded. “We are delighted with the performance of our Scorpion Rally tyres, which were recently accepted for use in South African Cross Country Racing and now Scorpions have won their first race on South African soil in opening race of the season.”

Competitors in the South African Cross Country Championship keen to try the Pirelli Scorion Rally tyres should contact the local distributor Stradale Motorsport through Charl Arangies at 083 449 0162 or charl@vaalfluidsa.com. Pirelli Tyre SA offers a broad variety of track, rally and off-road tyres to suit all race needs, from single-seaters to GT3 and sports racing, through saloon and production racing, to rally and cross country tyres.