The 39th issue of ‘The Cal™’ is the work of Mario Sorrenti, the first Italian photographer in the history of a calendar that has become a cult. Neapolitan by birth and New Yorker by adoption, Sorrenti chose the island of Corsica and its rugged landscape to create his ‘swoon’: ecstasy captured by images.

“The intense relationship between a photographer and his Muse is the very essence of the creation of a strong aesthetic dialogue which leads to the sublimation of natural beauty. In making “The Cal™”, I approached the subjects of my pictures by building a straightforward, intimate and real relationship which made it possible for me to instill the images with purity. In “swoon”, I put the bodies in direct contact with Nature, which harbors them as if they were its extension, in a set of images where rocks, land, tree trunks, sky and sea are all turned into a backdrop for the bodies”, says Mario Sorrenti, an artist whose fame was built on his extraordinary skill with nudes.

The 25 pictures of the 2012 “Calendario Pirelli” eighteen black and white and seven colour – are presented in a refined, canvas-lined portfolio, a format that has never been used before.

The 2012 Calendar features 12 protagonists, nine models and three actresses. The models include the Brazilian Isabeli Fontana (2003 Cal by Bruce Weber, 2005 by Patrick Demarchelier, 2009 by Peter Beard and 2011 by Karl Lagerfeld), the Russian Natasha Poly (2011 Pirelli Cal by Karl Lagerfeld), the Dutch Saskia de Brauw and Lara Stone (2009 Cal by Peter Beard and 2011 by Karl Lagerfeld), the Americans Joan Small and Guinevere Van Seenus (2006 Cal by Mert and Marcus), the Polish Malgosia (2009 Cal by Peter Beard), the Lithuanian Edita Vilkeviciute, the British Kate Moss (1994 Calby Herb Ritts and 2006 by Mert and Marcus). The actresses are the Ukrainian Milla Jovovich (1998 Cal by Bruce Weber), the Italian Margareth Madè and the Japanese Rinko Kikuchi.

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As nearly all the most expensive private GT cars in China gethered here, the event made a big echo and very impressively.

Over 1000 GT cars went to the circuit at first day, around 400-500 GT cars stayed for the 2 days events.

Clubs from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Chongqing, Fujian etc. particpated the event, part of the models here: Bugatti Veyron, Pagani ZondaR/F, Gumpert AppoloS, Koenigsegg Agera, Tramontana R/C/S, Aston Martin One 77, DBS/DB9,  Lamborghini Mucielago, LP640/560/Superleggera/Spider , Ferrari Enzo/599 GTB/GTO/F458/F430/365/355, Porsche, Maserati, AMG, BMW M, Audi Quattro R8, Spike, Viper, Ford GT, Corvert Z06…

A great GT parade in circuit followed an 8 laps race between each club separated into 4 groups according to models.

The Forum is hosted by China Automobile Manufacturers Association, China Automotive Engineers Society, China International Trade Committee Automotive Branch, China Automotive Technology and Research Center and Motor Trend magazine. The forum has been valued as the most important and trusted on whole China auto aftersales market. More than 40 scholars and experts from the industry had got together here to discuss and explore current situation and future trend on China auto aftersales market.

On the Forum, the most important is to announce the five awards, which had been seen as the highest honor on auto aftersales industry.

Pirelli Asia Pacific Marketing Director Mr Giovanni Angelo Ponzoni took a presentation to accept the award, “We are much honored to get Best Marketing award, which is the recognition to all Pirelli people’s effort. Pirelli always focus on green performance and superb performance product, which is why F1 teams and many luxury auto manufactures choose Pirelli. Also Pirelli has a great power on brand building. Pirelli is not only a tyre manufacture; we also had much achievement on Pirelli Calendar, sponsorship with Inter and so on. In the coming years, Pirelli will continue to invest in product development, brand marketing and technology innovation on China and Asia Pacific market”.

On China, Pirelli had a progressive development on the past years. During 2010, Pirelli retail network got an expansion boom with near 100% incremental on retailer amount and Pirelli’s business covered the whole of China.

After another exciting finale, Hamilton was followed home by Vettel who maintains his championship lead. Tyre strategy proved crucial to the outcome of the race, with the McLarens opting for a three-stop strategy while Red Bull selected two stops for Vettel and three stops for Mark Webber, who started from 18^th on the grid after hitting problems on Saturday during free practice and qualifying.

Webber’s early exit from qualifying meant that he was able to save three sets of soft PZero tyres for the race, which he was able to use to devastating effect on Sunday. Having worked his way through the field by sprinting between his three pit stops, Webber was able to climb onto the podium by passing Button on the penultimate lap.

Vettel was able to make his two-stop strategy work right up to the closing stages but he was completing a much longer stint on the hard tyres than his rivals, setting up a thrilling finish in which the top six were covered by just 15 seconds. There was plenty of overtaking in a lively race from start to finish, thanks to some thrilling battles featuring multiple world champions Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, as well as some of the new and exciting talents to emerge in the sport such as Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi.

Once more this year the weather remained dry throughout the weekend, with the race starting in ambient temperatures of 22 degrees centigrade and a track temperature of 30 degrees centigrade. All the drivers apart from Webber started the race on the soft tyre, with the teams split between two and three stop strategies. A notable exception was HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan, who was classified 23^rd after stopping only once on lap 23. The fastest lap of the race, set by Webber (1m38.993s) was also considerably quicker than the fastest race lap set by Hamilton last year (1m42.061s) – during which there were some periods of light rain.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “The races just seem to keep on getting better and better this year! I think nobody watching really knew how it was going to finish until the very end, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve when we started our Formula One project. We saw an interesting split of strategies, with McLaren managing to make three stops work for Hamilton but Red Bull coming very close to winning with just two. Compared to Malaysia we experienced a lot less degradation, with some drivers managing to get 20 laps or more out of the hard tyre. We didn’t experience an excessive amount of the toffee-like ‘marbles’ out on track and it was clear that this race

was won and lost on tyre strategy. The end result was that all the leading runners were very close together at the finish, and the people who had looked after their tyres best took the top results. It’s hard to imagine how we can top this at the next grand prix in Turkey, but we’re certainly going to try to have something just as good.” 

Pit stop summary – 2011 Chinese Grand Prix

The first column denotes the tyres the driver started the race on. S = Soft compound H = Hard compound

The last column gives the total amount of pit stops. * Drive through

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Copyright-free video news releases featuring interviews with Paul Hembery, as well as photographs and press releases are available for media use from: www.pirelli.com/f1

 The German used Pirelli’s hard compound tyres to get into Q2, before switching to the soft compound to set a fastest time of 1m33.706s in the final session, eclipsing his own pole position time last year of 1m34.558s by eight-tenths of a second.

 The top three, completed by the McLarens of Jenson Button (1m34.421s) and Lewis Hamilton (1m34.463s) were all faster than last year’s pole.

 The vast majority of the drivers remaining after Q1 used the soft compound tyres in the second and third sessions, which proved to be extremely effective in the relatively cool conditions of Shanghai. Ambient temperatures were 17 degrees centigrade with a track temperature of 22 degrees centigrade. There were also gusting winds in the region of five metres per second.

 Vettel timed his tactics perfectly, as tyre management is now an essential part of qualifying to ensure that the desired quantities of hard and soft tyres are available to support the planned race strategy. “The main thing is that your tyres are in good shape and I think we did a good job,” concluded Vettel, who had also topped the times in the final free practice session this morning.

 There was little tyre degradation and a lap time difference of around a second and a half between the hard and the soft tyres, as predicted. This means that the soft tyres should last around 13-14 laps, while the hard tyres should be good for 19-20 laps. The leading runners are likely to opt for a two-stop strategy, but there is a possibility of some teams trying for one or three stops.

 Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “It’s been another very exciting and eventful session, which has underlined not only the performance but also the consistency of our tyres. A number of drivers were able to set their fastest times on used soft tyres, proving that the drop-off is manageable enough to provide a good spread of performance over a stint. All the leading teams have shown themselves to be very competitive, so the indications are that we’re going to have a very closely-fought race tomorrow.”

Copyright-free video news releases featuring interviews with Paul Hembery, as well as photographs and press releases are available for media use from: www.pirelli.com/f1

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The teams used free practice to try out different set-ups, with some drivers running new parts and others carrying out long runs in order to acquire information to formulate race strategies. The winner of the first two grands prix, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, was straight on the pace from the very beginning, despite a track that was dusty and dirty, setting fastest time in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

Vettel’s fastest time in the morning was 1m38.739s, six-tenths of a second quicker than his team mate Mark Webber, who was runner-up. All the drivers used Pirelli’s hard tyres, benefitting from the extra set that they had been given in the morning. In the afternoon, Vettel improved his time to 1m37.688s, this time using the soft tyre. Lewis Hamilton, also on the soft tyre, was second fastest for McLaren, 0.166s slower than Vettel.

The afternoon session ran in identical temperatures of 27 degrees ambient and 30 degrees on track, with Vettel setting a fastest time of 1m37.688. Williams driver Pastor Maldonado was the first driver to switch to soft tyres, 23 minutes into the afternoon session, and was instantly quickest, confirming an expected difference of 1.5 to 2.0 seconds per lap between the soft and the hard tyres.

In total the drivers completed 1.098 laps of the 5.451-kilometre circuit, 458 laps in the first free practice session and 640 laps in the afternoon.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery commented: “We’ve been very encouraged by our first day of running in China, which like nearly every one of the circuits this year is entirely new to us. Although today has been warm, degradation is a lot less than we saw in Malaysia, so I m expecting to have two pit stops per car on race day, similar to Australia. We’ve also seen a lot fewer ‘marbles’ – deposits of rubber, with the shape and consistency of toffee, left by the tyres on the track as they degrade – and that should be the case during the race too as we are expecting fewer pit stops in the normal course of events. In terms of wear rate, there’s a good five to six lap difference between the soft and the hard, which opens up various different possibilities in terms of strategy. The weather seems uncertain tomorrow, which is sure to add another level of intrigue to what is already shaping up to be a thrilling weekend.”

Pirelli fact of the day

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel has led 109 of the 114 laps that have comprised the 2011 Formula One season so far. Red Bull has also performed the fastest pit stops of the season to date. The next quickest team is McLaren, which has been on average 0.334 seconds slower per stop, while the third fastest team is Lotus Renault, which has been on average 0.592 seconds slower than Red Bull.

 Tyre ‘marbles’:

The hard and soft PZero tyres are nominated for the Chinese Grand Prix, with the aim of seeing at least two pit stops per car, in line with Pirelli’s philosophy of promoting overtaking both on the track and in the pits.

The faster tyre wear compared to previous years can lead to strips of rubber being deposited on the track, which vary in size but are generally the shape and consistency of toffees, weighing between 10 and 20 grams on average. These strips are pliable when warm but become more rigid when they cool down, just like toffee. These rubber ‘marbles’ have always existed in Formula One, but the characteristics of Pirelli’s new compounds mean that the pieces are on average larger and softer than the hard and round ‘marbles’ that have been seen at grands prix in the past.

A Formula One tyre, which weighs approximately eight and a half kilograms when new, will lose around a kilogram and a half as it wears over the course of a stint. With an increased number of pit stops, more rubber will be laid down on the track.

This phenomenon is not new in Formula One, but it is most pronounced at circuits where there is a high degree of tyre wear, like Malaysia. Pirelli is looking at ways to reduce these deposits in future, but rubber on the circuit is an inevitable by-product of degradation and the ‘marbles’ left on the circuit pose no danger to competitors or spectators.

The surface and weather in China is generally less aggressive than Malaysia, with conditions more similar to Australia. This means that there should be 30% less tyre wear and fewer pit stops than seen at the Malaysian Grand Prix, which provided a thrilling battle from start to finish.

The track:

The Shanghai International Circuit is characterised by rapid straights and very long corners, providing a tough test for the tyres. The track is 5.451 kilometres long with a race length of 305.066 kilometres after 56 laps on a smooth surface. The first corner tightens, putting all the strain on the front-left tyre: which will be cold at the beginning of the race. As this corner develops a sharper radius, aerodynamic grip decreases and the emphasis switches to mechanical grip. Leaving the opening complex the drivers change up rapidly through the gears, reaching 280 kilometres per hour in a breath-taking sweep up to the top of the circuit.

Turn 13 is the most challenging corner of the lap, where the left-rear tyre is subjected to a lateral acceleration that triples the normal load on the carcass. This is accentuated by the camber of the circuit, which suffers from subsidence in certain places.

At the end of the straight the drivers brake hard into a tight right-hand hairpin (turn 14) that is taken in first gear, scrubbing off the top speed produced by more than 830 horsepower in less than three seconds.

It’s then up to the tyre compound to provide maximum grip to reduce wheelspin throughout the final crucial complex of corners that leads to the start-finish straight.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director says:

Paul Hembery: “We’re looking forward to another thrilling race in China, although we don t want to disappoint anybody who says that we ve made the races too exciting: it s true that if you get up in the middle of the grand prix now, the chances are that you ll miss something important! Once all the different strategies had played out, the last 10 laps in Sepang were absolutely thrilling – but you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, or, in the case of Malaysia, rubber. The rubber ‘marbles on the track are a natural consequence of the increased degradation that has led to more exciting races: all that rubber has to go somewhere, just as it has always done in the past. Having said that, we’re here to serve the teams’ best interests and we’re looking at ways of reducing some of the deposits in the future. But that’s not going to change our fundamental philosophy: we want to give racing back to the racers.”

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Copyright-free video news releases featuring interviews with Paul Hembery, as well as photographs and press releases are available for media use from: www.pirelli.com/f1

SHANGHAI GRAND PRIX NEXT FOR PIRELLI TYRES 

Pirelli is on track to double its production capacity in China over the next three years so that the plant in Yanzhou, which began operation in 2005, will account for 10% of the group’s total global output. In line with the group’s overall strategy, the new capacity is focused on premium, highly technological and environmentally friendly auto tyres, and next year Pirelli will add premium motorcycle tyres to the mix too.

This expertise in technologically advanced Premium tyres was rewarded last year when Pirelli was chosen as sole supplier for Formula One racing. For the years 2011 to 2013, all teams in the competition will run on Pirelli tyres, which have been engineered to enhance the spectacle, and this Sunday, April 17^th, the season’s third Grand Prix takes place in Shanghai.

 “Pirelli’s prospects in China are very bright”, said Mr. Giuseppe Cattaneo, CEO of Pirelli Asia-Pacific region. “In three years, our capacity in the Shandong province will double and we expect Asia sales to grow 20 percent this year, helped by rising demand for more expensive vehicles, which obviously require premium tyres, in China.”

Pirelli’s Asia-Pacific business accounted for 6% of its global total sales, its China business contributing over 50%of the region’s total revenue. 

China, along with other fast growing countries, occupies a key role in Pirelli’s vision for the coming years and underpins the group’s confident outlook.  In fact, in its industrial plan for 2011-2013, Pirelli forecasts average annual growth of 8%, with profitability (Ebit margin) rising to between 10.5% and 11.5% in 2013.  And by 2015, 57% sales of Pirelli will come from fast growth economies, like China.

Through its commitment to advanced technology, Pirelli aims to produce tyres that are both better performing and better from an environmental point of view. And the group already boasts a broad range of “green” products that include the Cinturato P7, Scorpion Verde, and Scorpion Verde All Season.

PIRELLI TYRE

Pirelli Tyre is the world’s fifth largest operator in terms of turnover on the tyre market; it is today involved in the design, development, production and marketing of tyres destined for various types of vehicle: cars, light vehicles, motorcycles, trucks. The Company has 19 factories on four continents, and has business in 160 countries.  Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, Pirelli combines innovation, quality products and a strong brand, making it an industry leader.

PIRELLI AND F1, WIN TICKETS TO SINGAPORE GP

After an absence of 20 years, Pirelli last year returned to Grand Prix racing. The Pirelli Formula One Team is based in Milan at the Pirelli Tyre Research and Development Centre, a facility at the heart of the Pirelli Group’s tyre technology capability. The new tyres showcase Pirelli’s know-how and technology, reinforcing the company’s reputation as the world leader in Ultra High Performance tyres. In particular, the Pirelli P Zero tyres will be used during the F1 Championship.

To thank consumers for their loyalty, Pirelli is developing an end-user promotion campaign -”Buy Pirelli tyres, get chance to see the F1 Singapore GP”. During campaign period, anyone buying more than two tyres above 16” in authorized stores will have the opportunity to participate in a lucky draw to win a trip to the F1 grand prix in Singapore.

Malaysia provided an action-packed race with plenty of overtaking and a podium battle that went right down to the very last lap – and in China Pirelli is hoping for more of the same. Shanghai is designed to test the limits of a modern Formula One car, particularly when it comes to traction and braking, where the tyres are under most stress. Temperatures in China are expected to be considerably lower than they were in Malaysia, with much less humidity. Added to the smoother surface found in Shanghai, in theory there should be much less degradation. Rain is not an uncommon occurrence in China, so after a dry Malaysia, this could be where the intermediate and wet PZero tyres finally make their competition debut.

Otherwise, it will be the hard and the soft tyres that once again take centre stage, which were also nominated for Australia and Malaysia this year. The soft tyre in particular should be well-suited to the 5.451-kilometre track, but China is a race that is always hard to predict. Since the Chinese Grand Prix was first held in 2004, there has been a different winner every year: a sign of the diverse characteristics and complex variables that characterize the race.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director says:

Paul Hembery: “So far I’m very pleased with the way that our tyres have helped the show, but I’m always impressed by the way that the teams and drivers learn so quickly: I’m sure they will be finding different solutions to make the tyres last longer all the time. So far we have accurately predicted two pit stops in Australia and three in Malaysia but we’ll have to wait until we see the data after Friday free practice before having a completely clear idea of what to expect in China. Unlike Malaysia, where we provided the teams with an experimental tyre for free practice, we will give each team one extra set of the usual hard tyres for Friday’s first free practice session – just as we did in Australia. We saw then that it worked well, allowing the teams to maximise their track time and prepare as thoroughly as possible for the race, so we’d like to give them the same opportunity again. The first two races have been absolutely thrilling; I’m hoping that we’ll see the same again in China!”

The men behind the steering wheel say:

Michael Schumacher (Mercedes): “After Australia and Malaysia, once again we have a very different type of circuit at Shanghai, so it’s still going to be a steep learning curve with the Pirelli tyres for everyone. We’ve seen so far that strategy is important as well as tyre management, and I would certainly expect that to be the case again in China. In terms of tyre wear, Shanghai should be more forgiving than Malaysia with temperatures generally being a lot lower and the surface smoother. In general the performance of the Pirelli tyres is good, but learning how to control the window during which they are at their best is the big challenge. My job and the job of the team is to find the best solution for our car and this will be our objective once more in Shanghai.”

Technical notes and tyre choices so far:

*  One of the characteristics of the Shanghai circuit is heavy braking, which tends to put more stress on the front tyres than the rears. In severe braking zones, the car and tyres are subjected to deceleration forces equivalent to 5G.

*  China has a special significance for the world championship leader and winner of Pirelli’s first two grands prix, Sebastian Vettel. In 2009, it was the scene of the German’s first ever pole position and win for Red Bull Racing.

*  Last year saw the highest number of pit stops in the history of the Chinese Grand Prix. There were a total of 67 stops: an average of 2.79 per driver, at a race that was held in mixed conditions. By way of comparison, the Malaysian Grand Prix that has just taken place had 59 stops.

 The tyre choices so far: 

Pirelli in China:

*     Pirelli China is part of Pirelli Asia-Pacific. China is one of the fastest-growing markets for Pirelli, and the Italian firm has two factories in the Shangdong province: one for car tyres and another for truck tyres. The latest factory has been designed with capacity to expand to 10 million units per year.

*     Pirelli tyres have been successful in FIA GT racing in China, at the Zhuhai circuit, and also on the China Rally, part of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

*     China forms a huge part of Pirelli’s motorsport history. Pirelli’s first major international win was on the 1907 Peking to Paris road race, won by Prince Scipione Borghese in a seven-litre Itala.

Copyright-free video news releases featuring interviews with Paul Hembery, as well as photographs and press releases are available for media use from: www.pirelli.com/f1

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Before the start of the race, which started with 35 degrees centigrade of track temperature and 29 degrees centigrade ambient, Button predicted: “I think it will be a very exciting race with the tyres that we have.”

The Englishman was proved right, as the second race of Pirelli’s three-year Formula One agreement provided plenty of action and overtaking from beginning to end. The podium was not decided until the very final lap, with Vettel winning by just over three seconds while Heidfeld just managed to hold off fourth-placed Mark Webber.

The top three finishers all selected a similar three-stop strategy, running the soft tyre for the first two stints before switching to the hard tyre for the final stint. Button conserved his rubber to maximum effect, running to the end of the race on the hard tyre following his final stop on lap 38.

Heidfeld was also able to showcase his tyre management skills, using hard tyres that had covered 18 laps to fend off Mark Webber’s Red Bull, which stopped four times. Heidfeld consequently stood on the podium for the first time since the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2009.

Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi was the top finisher to complete the race on just two stops, making the hard tyre last for 20 laps following his switch from the soft tyres on lap 36. The Japanese driver finished eighth, picking up his first points of the year.

All the drivers started the race on the soft tyres. Despite some intermittent spots of rain, conditions remained dry: allowing the PZero tyres to demonstrate their performance.

As well as a close finish, the race was characterised by plenty of overtaking including some spectacular battles between Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button on lap 17, Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa on lap 27, and Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso on lap 45.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “If we thought the Australian Grand Prix was good, then Malaysia was something else! Thankfully the weather stayed dry, which meant that we were able to see our tyres performing without the rain factor. The Malaysian Grand Prix turned into a battle of strategy and bravery from start to finish, where choosing the right tyres at the right time was absolutely crucial. Once those vital decisions had been made, it then became a question of looking after the tyres in the best way possible, to make the choices really count in these very punishing conditions. All three drivers on the podium today were able to underline their extraordinary talents in this area, with the tyres playing a vital role in setting up a series of battles that went down to the very final lap. In particular I’d like to congratulate Nick Heidfeld who was our very first test driver when our Formula One tyres first took to the track in August last year. After such a breath-taking race though there’s no actual time to draw breath, as now we head straight to China for yet another new challenge – and hopefully just as thrilling a spectacle.”

The Chinese Grand Prix takes place next weekend at Shanghai, where Pirelli will once more supply hard and soft PZero compounds to the 12 Formula One teams.