Under sponsorship of Pirelli tyres, rally and gymkhana ace Ken Block will ‘test’ a Fomula One car at this year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza on August 5.
It’s unknown what kind of testing it will be exactly, but what we do know is Block will be driving Toyota’s ex-F1 car, the TF109 which Toyota used to compete in the company’s last F1 season in 2009.
Pirelli supplies tyres for the entire current Formula One field and is also a major sponsor of Ken Block. Pirelli apparently owns the TF109 Toyota F1 car now and uses it to test upcoming products for Formula One.
As mentioned, it hasn’t been announced what kind of testing will be in store during the Italian Grand Prix. Knowing Block though, it’s probably going to involve some sort of sideways action. Block has hinted the plans, saying,
“These cars are so specialised that I need to be realistic about what I can do, but I know that it’s going to be a lot of fun and take hooning to a whole new level…”
Ken Block will test out a few different products Pirelli is working on, such as new supersoft (PZero Red) and soft (PZero Yellow) tyre compounds, as well as new medium (PZero White) and hard (PZero Silver) compound tyres. Pirelli said,
“These tyres have a little less performance than the softer tyres, but increased durability and resistance to high temperatures – not to mention ‘gymkhana’ style doughnuts…”
We look forward to providing videos of the testing in August. Stay tuned.
