June 21-22 2009, San Marino

Lassa Rally Team - Media Office

That was the 5th round inside the CIR – Italian Rally Championship, Rally San Marino had been run for the 37th time in history. LRT drivers Serkan Yazıcı and Unal Tezel started the race tagged with the door number 26 in their second European course – and held another success to complete the hard run in 21st in the row with no complaints reported on the tyre construction. Race was featuring a total stages with 301 kms – all flown on the gravel surface within 22 stages. Just 48 cars completed the hard weekend out of 72 starts – and should add also weather was so heavy for the rally action. Lassa Rally drivers developed their stage times one after another - and it's obvious they were in a perfect shape compared to all rivals had been driving this course for  many years to come.

Lassa Motorsports Committee President Gokhan Cuceloglu commented after the hard run about the weekend and said:

“ While we were having the decision to be a part of the competition in Europe, main goal was the enhance the limits regarding the development programme on racing tyres – and get beyond the borders for testing ground with a new environment that could be a challenge for us. Sure the target was to finish up the race against all hard conditions caused by the rain. And we're glad that achieved this difficult aim. And right now, we're happy with our team's and our tyres performance.”  Cuceloglu also added that Lassa passed another corner on their way with no mistakes at all as it was planned for season 2009.

After the second round held in Italy completed with an affirmative result for Lassa engineers, Team Director Volkan Isik said his words about the weekend as goes: “ As it's known so clear, we have not parted in Italian course this season to achieve any steps on standings table. That's been an on-going process to have more and new data for for development programme on our racing series. Our data archive has been held inside the previous round, has been tested this weeekend. And we'll keep our pace with all the new information that has been collected in Rally San Marino. It's sure that focusing on both gravel and tarmac surfaces at the same time is a highly hard job in our business. We used our vote for the priority on gravel course. Maye we'll be on tarmac later, sure our main goal is to achieve the best possible results on either. We're in a nice shape inside the programme, and what goes around here, comes around as a new data flow at the end of any round. ”

Isik had another point after the second round in Italy and added that they went on a compare with the rivals around. Said: “Though we have some advantages on certain subjetcs, there are some points – that we should develope it as the whole team. While you're pushing the limits, you should valuate every single data properly. We test our tyres on a diverse range of ground styles both in Turkish and Italian courses – as well as the testing facilities inside Lassa tyres manufacturing plant. As an example, we had our last test in Parma. All the data we're able to collect has a huge importance. Since the tyre manufacturing technology bases on a perfect balance, we cannot identify a particular data as a “more valuable” item on our notes. But as we particularly focused on durability and safety – our priority has been handling and braking so far. After all the testing programme executed since now, in these particualr subjectives - we reached a point enough to challenge our rivals that have been doing this job  for a long time...” 

Cuceloglu also mentioned the conditions in Italy and added that they are all more challenging in Italy compared to Turkish racing ground – meant the stages are harder, longer and more stressed. Added: “ So we came up with new packages including 2 different types of tyre sets; with average and mild-average compounds. In fact, we concluded a clear idea on our pattern design after the previous round – that it should be more compatible with the hard surfaces. So the team had a sensational work in such a short period, and the result is satisfying than we expected.”  

Being involved inside European challenge is the key way to observe the response of the racing tyres on different grounds. It also contributes and supplies many valuable information for the development programme. Isik concludes: “However, we're planning to go on sale in Italy inside the second half of the year with the racing tyres. There are still 3 different patterns for gravel – comes with 3 different dimentions.”

For detailed information and media materials - pls contact :

Volkan Bakac - Lobby Halkla İlişkiler

Tel: +90 0212 284 6363 – +90 0532 446 2003

Lassa Rally Team had it's second challenge through European stages in 37th Rally San Marino. This round was the 5th leg for the Italian Rally Championship – and the 2nd leg inside the Italian Gravel Championship as well.