By Jay
January 19 2011

F1's new tyre supplier for 2011 season, Pirelli, completed it's private testing campaign ahead of the forthcoming 2011 Formula One season.

Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa completed the four days of testing with the Toyota TF109 that has been used to test the tyres since August.

Pirelli also made history when it's wet weather test were conducted in the dark.

In order to replicate rainy conditions, tankers dampened the 3.1-kilometre north loop of the Yas Marina circuit with approximately 140,000 litres of water over two evening sessions that lasted from 1800hrs to midnight. With floodlights covering the length of the track.

The first wet session was aimed at selecting the wet tyre that will be used by Pirelli during the coming season.

Pedro de la Rosa completed 13 runs and 119 laps, totalling around 372 kilometres.

Commenting on the testing he said, “In my opinion, Pirelli is ready now for Formula One. The dry tyre test went very well, and confirmed everything we had learned in Bahrain the week before. But the most original part of the test was when we were running at night on the wet tyres, which was as new an experience for me as it was for everyone else. The most important thing was that the water levels were consistent, which allowed us to have some accurate results from the test. At the end of it, we’ve come up with two tyres – wet and intermediate – which I believe are both competitive and stable.”

Paul Hembery, Pirelli’s motorsport director stated, “It’s been an extremely positive test session here in Abu Dhabi, thanks to the fantastic facilities we’ve had available to us and the usual hard work from Pedro and the rest of our team. We’re very proud to have been part of creating a little bit of history by running a Formula One car at night for the first time on wet tyres."

"We very much believe that Pirelli will be able to contribute to the spectacle of Formula One in the future and seeing the car kicking up huge plumes of spray under the floodlights has certainly been an amazing sight that we will all remember for a long time. While we are well aware that we are new to Formula One and still have plenty to learn, I’m confident that we can approach the start of this year’s official testing next month with a strong package.”

The next all teams testing is scheduled from Feb 1-3 at Valencia.