PIRELLI PARTNERS PADDON AND THE HYUNDAI i20 TO FIA ERC VICTORY FOR A SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

For a second consecutive year, Pirelli has partnered Hayden Paddon and his BRC team-run Hyundai i20 Rally 2 Customer Racing to victory in the FIA ERC (European Rally) Championship. After dominating the Silesia Rally up until the Sunday morning, the New Zealand champion only needed a third place finish to claim the European crown. Finishing second in Poland ahead of Paddon was Jon Armstrong in the Ford, who made the most of the Cinturato and the P Zero on the final day of the event, which featured damp and wet roads.

"Congratulations to Hayden and Hyundai who have repeated last year's success, once again thanks to using our products,"commented Terenzio Testoni, Rally Activity Manager Pirelli."The Scorpion gravel tyres, the asphalt P Zeros and Cinturatos once again proved to be versatile and reliable partners for the drivers both in a high-level open market championship such as the ERC, where performance counts the most and in the WRC where teams are looking for consistency and durability. Overall, the 2024 FIA ERC has been a positive experience for Pirelli and we can now look ahead with optimism to next season's rallying commitments."

In this year's European championship, Pirelli has set a record for special stages wins, with 66, along with three out of eight rally wins with three cars and three different drivers: Oliver Solberg and Skoda on gravel in the Scandinavia Rally, the Citroen of Andrea Crugnola on tarmac in the Rome Rally, as well as Paddon and Hyundai on the tarmac Rally Cederigion. There were a total of eleven podium finishes with eight drivers (Miklos Csomos, Alejandro Cachon, Solberg, Paddon, Robert Virves, Crugnola, Simone Campedelli and Armstrong) and five marques (Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Skoda, Toyota).