PIRELLI P ZERO RACE TLR RS

PIRELLI P ZERO RACE TLR RS tyres are the first to use FSC certified natural rubber.

Pirelli’s P ZERO RACE TLR RS tyres are the Italian brand’s pure race tyre. What makes them stand out beyond their performance is that the rubber used is FSC certified. FSC stands for stands for Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC is a globally recognised NGO devoted to responsible forest management.

The P ZERO RACE TLR RS is made in Pirelli’s Milan-Bollate plant and is the first to feature the certification. What does the FSC certification tell us about the new tyre? The FSC branding tells you that the rubber used comes from plantations managed to preserve biodiversity. And that those plantations benefit the lives of the local communities and workers.

The newly renovated Milan-Bollate plant had to have a dedicated monitoring system installed to monitor all materials used in FSC-certified products. This is so that material with the FSC logo is managed separately from the non-certified material throughout the entire supply chain.

Quote from Pirelli

“Choosing to increasingly use FSC® certified natural rubber in our products is in line with
Pirelli’s attention towards nature and biodiversity“, said Piero Misani, Pirelli’s Chief Technical
Officer, “as well as with the will to help the populations and workers in the areas where
natural rubber comes from. Environmental and social commitment, combined with the pursuit
of high performance that does not compromise on safety to meet the expectations of
professional cyclists and the most demanding amateurs. Our Formula 1 experience, where
starting from this year all tyres contain FSC-certified natural rubber, is proof of this:
environmental awareness can and must be complemented with safety and top performance
levels”.

P ZERO RACE TLR RS

The P ZERO RACE TLR RS is the latest evolution of Pirelli’s competition tubeless road tyres. Pirelli say they have been “specifically developed for competition”. Pirelli says the tyres have “perfect grip in any weather condition, excellent road handling when braking, accelerating and turning, and very low rolling resistance.” They sound like the perfect tyre, World Tour team Lidl-Trek obviously agree, as they will be using them in this year’s races.

While the tread is thinner than that used previously it has the same tread pattern. This combined with a “modified” fabric layer has reduced the weight by 8% and rolling resistance by 16%. Faster, lighter and with better grip, sounds like a dream come true. How will you spot these tyres out in the wild? Look out for the FSC logo on the side of the tyre and a colour change. The new tyres have a white RS and FSC logo while the rest is yellow.

We will see if we can get our hands on a set of these fast sounding tyres and let you know how they perform. Looking for something a little more gravelly? Check out our review of the Pirelli Cinturato Gravel S.