After two years of successful collaboration, Pirelli and
Ford Rallye Sport partnership comes to an end

Milan, December 13, 2002 – After two years of successful
collaboration, the partnership between Pirelli and
Ford Rallye Sport in the FIA World Rally
Championship comes to an end.

Together the partners have won six WRC races,
three in a row in 2001 (Argentina, Cyprus and Greece) and three in
2002 (Argentina, Kenya and Greece). ” We have enjoyed two
successful years with Pirelli and thank them for their support.
Together we have made some major improvements and this has seen us
finish runner-up in the world championship for two years in a row
as well as winning six rounds during this time” , said Ford Rallye
Sport Director Malcolm Wilson.

At the end of the 2002 season both parties had the opportunity
to re-discuss the partnership and it was decided in the interests
of both parties to follow different strategic directions.

Pirelli has a long and successful Motorsport history and in
particular in the world rally championship. ” The WRC has always
been considered in Pirelli a fundamental source of technology
creation for the development of road tyre products, in fact a
genuine Reserch and Development test bed”, said Pirelli Motorsport
Director Paul Hembery. ” These last two seasons
with Ford Rallye Sport, together with Colin McRae
and Carlos Sainz – with whom Pirelli has already
won in the past three world drivers championships -, has allowed us
to increase and expand our sporting experience and know how of
competition tyres” .

” For 2003 we are pleased to strengthen our successful
collaboration with the Subaru World Rally Team” ,
added Paul Hembery. ” Our intensified development programs,
together with the Prodrive engineering excellence,
give us belief that we will provide the ideal platform for
Tommi Makinen and Petter Solberg
to excel in the coming WRC season” .