Walkenhorst Motorsport and Pirelli are entering into an extensive partnership – the Lower Saxony-based racing team will become a reference partner of the Italian tyre brand on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.
Walkenhorst Motorsport and Pirelli are delighted to announce a comprehensive partnership. The Lower Saxony-based team and the Italian tyre manufacturer are entering into a multi-year collaboration. Walkenhorst Motorsport will act as one of development teams on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and support Pirelli with its experience and expertise in the further development of racing tyres in the GT3 sector. Walkenhorst Motorsport has already worked with the brand in recent years in the ADAC GT Masters and the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, so extending the partnership to the Nordschleife is the next logical step.
For Pirelli, it is important to sign a team with extensive experience on the Nordschleife, which can use its expertise to support the Milan-based tyre manufacturer in its further development. “Walkenhorst Motorsport has been one of the most successful top teams on the Nordschleife for years. Our stated goal is to successfully combine the expertise of Walkenhorst Motorsport and Pirelli to achieve a further performance step for our racing tyres on the Nordschleife. We have already started the cooperation at NLS 1 and are very satisfied with the start of the collaboration,” explains Pirelli Motorsport Director Matteo Braga.
Pirelli has already tested upgrades to its current tyre generation ahead of the 2025 Nordschleife season. The new evolution, based on slicks used in DTM, ADAC GT Masters, and GT World Challenge Europe, incorporates multiple innovations—with a strong focus on sustainability.
Aston Martin factory driver Christian Krognes impressively demonstrated the quality of the new Pirelli tyre generation during qualifying for the first race of the ADAC Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie season. With a lap time of 7:53.297 minutes, the Norwegian set one of the fastest lap times in the history of the series. Krognes, who has been part of Walkenhorst Motorsport’s GT3 project for many years, will also play a key role in the further development of Pirelli tyres with his experience.
“We are delighted to be Pirelli’s new development partner on the Nordschleife from this season onwards! We are proud that such a renowned tyre manufacturer as Pirelli is relying on our expertise. We have already proven in the past that we can work successfully with tyre partners, and I am confident that together with Pirelli we will take further steps that will pay off in terms of performance,‘ explains Managing Director Jörg Breuer. ’The collaboration with Pirelli has been excellent right from the start! We have very professional and solution-oriented communication at all levels and work together in a very concentrated and focused manner. We are very much looking forward to the tasks ahead and are highly motivated to achieve good development results together in the future.”
The cooperation between Walkenhorst Motorsport and Pirelli is rounded off by the fact that Pirelli products will be used on all Walkenhorst Motorsport cars. In addition to the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, the GT4 version of the Vantage will also be equipped with Pirelli racing tyres. The near-series Hyundai i30N will also roll on the Italian manufacturer’s black gold.