Following decades of supplying WRC teams with the necessary tires for tackling all kinds of surfaces in the series, Pirelli announced this year that it will give up on their full-time commitment with the championship. One reason, obviously, is their new programme in Formula One, which limited the costs for the Italian company for the next 3 years.
However, talking to reporters earlier this week, Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery hinted that a return to the WRC is indeed possible sooner than expected. The tire maker will continue to provide units for the WRC Academy next season, but a full-time return in the future will only depend on the new technical regulations decided upon by the FIA in 2012.
“I want us to be back [in WRC] in 2012,” stated loud and clear Hembery, according to Autosport. “Once those regulations (for 2012) are out, we will study them carefully and begin - if the conditions are right - to prepare ourselves. We have a programme of continued development to maintain our knowledge in rallying through this season.”
One way to maintain some sort of contact with the rallying world would be a selected-events programme in the International Rallying Challenge (IRC), which Hembery would be very fond of. However, the Pirelli boss avoided to make any promises for the near future.
“We started four IRC rounds, won three and finished second on one of them this season. We have a pretty good record in the open competition of IRC this year. We'll be looking at that next season, but no decisions have been made,” he concluded.
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