Pirelli complete first wet tyre test

Pirelli's 2011 tyre development programme has entered into wet weather tyre testing after rounding off a two-day track session at Valencia. Pedro De La Rosa ran on intermediates and full wets during his first outing as Pirelli's test driver.

The track was artificially watered for the two-day session, with a light covering to check the performance of the new intermediate tyres and then a denser covering to try out the full wet rubber.

Driving last year's Toyota TF109, de la Rosa covered just over 650 kilometres during the course of the two days, having started his programme running on slick tyres in order to establish a benchmark time.

"As we were running our intermediate and wet tyres for the very first time, effectively our programme was starting from scratch once more,” explained Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery.

“We worked through our schedule exactly as planned, and we were able to get an initial impression of our performance in wet and drying conditions. This has enabled us to identify the areas in which we are strong and the areas that we need to develop further, which is always the aim in testing.”

Commenting on his first Pirelli test, De la Rosa added: "It's a real pleasure for me to be working with Pirelli this year, and I'm delighted to have finally had the chance to try out these tyres. We completed all the work we wanted to do during this initial session, and now we have a clearer idea about future avenues for development."

Pirelli's next test will be at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya in Spain at the end of October.