For 2022 Pirelli reveals the three pillars behind the upcoming motorsport season: Formula 1, WRC and GT racing.
Technology, sustainability and support for young talents are the three cornerstones of Pirelli’s 2022 motorsport campaign which was presented today. This will be a particularly significant season for the Italian firm, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, having been originally founded on January 28, 1872.
Pirelli is also engaged in research projects to recover valuable materials from motorsport tyres at the end of their lives, and the company is evaluating innovative ideas to extract primary materials from used tyres as they are recycled. To increase the number of tyres involved in this process, Pirelli has started a campaign within the wider world of motorsport to recover all the tyres used internationally throughout a variety of motorsport competitions.
SUPPORTING YOUNG TALENTS
Helping young talents to develop their skills is another important aspect that has always characterised Pirelli’s approach to motorsport, thanks to various programmes in Formula 1 as well as the World Rally Championship, not to mention many other national championships.
In 2022, Pirelli’s support of young drivers has intensified thanks not only to the firm’s continued involvement in the Junior WRC – which this year uses four-wheel drive cars for the first time – but also with its backing of the FIA Rally Star programme: a new competition launched and run by the FIA to find new rallying talents among youngsters between 17 and 26. This is an evolution of the famous Pirelli Star Driver scheme that launched talents such as Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans, while Craig Breen graduated from another well-known Pirelli-backed initiative to find future rally drivers: the WRC Academy. The young drivers in the Rally Star programme are chosen through a layered selection process based on digital motorsport as well as real driving.
Similar initiatives are in place to help propel promising circuit drivers towards Formula 1 as well. For many years, Pirelli has awarded a cash scholarship to the winning Formula 3 driver, as a helping hand towards the top.
Another important project supported by Pirelli is the FIA Girls on Track programme, designed to promote female drivers and the participation of women in motorsport. All this is in the spirit of inclusion and equality, which has always been a priority for Pirelli.
