Team MRF Tyres ropes in Italian legend Paolo Andreucci
Chennai, 1 March 2021: Team MRF Tyres is excited to announce that Paolo Andreucci, 11 times Italian Rally Champion, will compete in the Italian Gravel Championship (CIR-Terra) with Team MRF Tyres. Paolo Andreucci’s car will be shod by the Indian tyres for the 2021 Six-round Italian Gravel Rally Championship and he will drive a Citroen C3 Rally 2, on the latest generation of MRF Tyres.
Paolo Andreucci who has more than 20 years of experience in tyre development will be a valued asset as he also takes on the mantle of tyre development for Team MRF Tyres along with Fiore Brivio – renowned for his Rally tyre development. Team MRF Tyres has an aggressive 2021 testing schedule and Paolo Andreucci will play an important role in this program.
Andreucci’s signing comes after a successful 2020 season with Team MRF Tyres taking stage wins in the team’s first-ever season in top-level European Rally competition. The strengthening of their test driving team signals MRF Tyres’ commitment to International motorsport and their desire to be strong contenders for the World’s best championships. This is the next step as MRF Tyres continues to develop and build on a strong 2020 campaign.
The 2021 season started well for MRF Tyres with Emil Lindholm/Mikael Korhonen taking a podium spot in the opening round of the Finnish Championship at Artic Rally. It became two podiums from two outings on snow and ice after Craig Breen and Paul Nagle achieved a podium in 2020 in Finland.
MRF Tyres has proven pace and experience on gravel rallying around the world, producing perfect tyres for national and regional rallying. Further announcements for the 2021 campaigns will be made in due course. The next outing for Team MRF Tyres will be the SM OK Auto Ralli, the second round of the Finnish Rally Championship with Lindholm/Korhonen on March 5th and 6th.
Paolo Andreucci (Driver, Team MRF Tyres, Italian Gravel Rally Championship) said: “MRF Tyres is a very competitive team in motorsport. We have common and converging objectives, and this commitment is what has drawn me to this program. I like to challenge myself with new opportunities, and I am excited about this one. It is thanks to the passion and technical knowledge of the entire team at MRF Tyres that I believe together we can do a good job. For 2021, we want to be as competitive as possible in the Italian Gravel Rally Championship and above all to help MRF in developing the best of competition tyres.”
Arun Mammen, MRF Tyres Vice-Chairman & Managing Director, said: “We are proud of how competitive Team MRF Tyres was in the 2020 European Rally Championship season. Everyone at MRF Tyres is working hard and we are happy to be present competitively on a world stage like this. To be able to attract an 11-time national champion to MRF Tyres speaks about our commitment to rallying in Europe and the continued development of our rally tyre. We are dedicated to further our success and we look forward to the Italian Gravel Rally Championship. I would like to welcome Paolo to the team and wish him the best of luck for the 2021 season.”
About MRF Tyres
MRF Tyres was established in 1946 and now employs over 16,000 people and has revenue of around US$2.5 billion making it the biggest tyre supplier in India. MRF Tyres supplies rally and race tyres around the world. MRF Tyres entered the European Rally Championship for the first time in 2020 taking stage wins and took a podium position in the team’s first snow rally in the Finnish Rally Championship. It is part of a long motorsport heritage for the company that has seen multiple Asia Pacific Rally Championship titles, open wheeler success, national rally and racing success.
About Paolo Andreucci
Paolo Andruecci is an Italian rally stalwart, having broken onto the scene in the late 1980s. It didn’t take him long to make his mark, taking a top 10 in Rally Portugal in 1989, taking second in class in the Production WRC class. He has made his career in Italy on gravel and tarmac, starting over 330 rallies and taking 80 wins. Incredibly, he has taken 11 Italian titles overall and a further five class titles. He brings a wealth of experience to MRF Tyres and our aggressive development campaign into Europe.
Andreucci’s Championship titles:
2020 –Italy 2WD class (Tarmac), 2018 – Italian Championship, 2017 – Italian Championship, 2015 – Italian Championship, 2014 – Italian Championship, 2012 – Italian Championship, 2011 – Italian Championship, 2010 – Italian Championship, 2009 – Italian Championship, 2006 – Italian Championship, 2005 – Italian S1600 class, 2004 – Italian S1600 class, 2003 – Italian Championship, 2003 – Italian S1600 class, 2001 – Italian Championship, 1998 – Italian 2WD Championship, 1997 – Italian 2WD Championship
About the Italian Gravel Rally Championship (Campionato Italiano Rally Terra)
Formed in 2017, the Italian Gravel Rally Championship allows the finest rally drivers to take on the best gravel roads across Italy. Sanctioned by the national ASN, ACI Sport, tallies typically take place over a single day of competition with around 70km of competitive action (except for the Rally Italia Sardegna which supports the WRC round). The fields are highly competitive with more than 20 Rally 2 cars, producing exciting finishes – to the point that the 2020 Rally San Marino was tied with 0.0 between the first two cars! The 2020 Champion was WRC2 front runners Bulacia Wilkinson Marco/Marcelo Der Ohannesian. Andreucci took second with two victories with codrivers Francesco Pinelli and Anna Andreussi.
2021 Italian Gravel Rally Championship Calendar
1. Rally Adriatico 2021 (24-25 April);
2. Rally Italia Sardegna 2021 (3-6 June);
3. San Marino Rally 2021 (26-27 June);
4. Rally Città di Arezzo – Valtiberina 2021 (30 July – 1 August);
5. Rally dei Nuraghi e del Vermentino 2021 (11-12 September);
6. Liburna Rally Terra 2021 (6-7 November).
