Pirelli & C.S.p.A. has partnered with Alfa Romeo to become the technical partner of the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy event, at the FCA Group’s Balocco test track outside of Milan, Italy.
The two Milanese companies – Alfa Romeo and Pirelli – have a history of partnership, Pirelli says. In 1950, Alfa Romeo 158, the very first car to win a Formula 1 race and championship, was equipped with Pirelli tires. In 2014, Pirelli introduced “AR” marked tires to identify ones developed specifically for Alfa Romeo. Now, there are 43 Pirelli tire homologations for Alfa Romeo and 33 marked tires: created as the result of a parallel development program between the car and its tires.
Each model from the current Alfa Romeo range – including the most iconic cars from the recent past, such as the 8C Competizione – has a Pirelli tire developed specifically for it by Pirelli and Alfa Romeo engineers jointly. The Quadrifoglio range in particular – Giulia and Stelvio – uses Pirelli P Zero tires exclusively as original equipment.
As well as Pirelli’s own proving grounds, the Balocco test center – built by Alfa Romeo an hour outside of Milan in the early 1970s and then incorporated into the FCA Group – was one of the places where the shared development of Alfa cars and tires took place. For Pirelli, the partnership marks its return to the venue, this time as the technical partner of the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy. Pirelli said the partnership also offers the opportunity to highlight the technical differences between marked and non-marked tires, which can often be spotted even with the naked eye.