Pirelli has released the first pictures of its two new winter tyres, the Pirelli Sottozero Snow - for events like the Monte Carlo - and the Pirelli Sottozero Ice, designed for heavy snow and ice as found on events like𒊎 the Swedish Rally.

"These are two quite different tyres, each of which has been specifically designed to offer the best possible performance du𒉰ring very specialised rallies such as Monte-Carlo and Sweden," read a statement from the Italian tyre manufacturer.

"The tyre for the first event of the season is available in two v💖🧔ersions, with or without studs, depending on the rally's road conditions."

The full statement from Pirelli read:

Sottozero 'Snow':

"This tyre has dimensions similar to those of the Pirelli PZero asphalt tyre and incorporate✅s studs that protrude by 1 to 1.5 mm. Nonetheless, it is capable of covering long road sections without damaging ওthe road surfaces.

"It has been s꧃pecifically designed for mixed conditions and in particular the Monte-Carlo Rally sta♓ges, which are often held on roads that are partly dry but also partially snowy and icy.

"The structure of the new Sottozero Snow is more flexible compared to that of the asphalt PZero and this is mainly down to the fact that this tyre has to deal with particularly variable road conditions. The shoulder of this tyre hasꦗ also been specially reinforced in order to better resist punctures, as the anti-deflation mousse used up until the end of 2007 is no longer allowed.

"The compound and tread patterns have been designed to operate in the best possible way both with studs attached - for ✱heavy snow conditions - and also without studs, in order to provide a good level of grip even on slippery surfaces with very low temperatures.

"The teams will only be allowed to use one type of tread pattern, construction and compound. This compound will be very similar to the compound used on Pirelli's winter road car tyres. However the drivers are able to choose whether or not to add studs to their tyres, depending on the road conditions."

Sottozero 'Ice':

"The Pirelli Sottozero Ice tyres for rallies🐎 such as Sweden are desig💃ned for roads entirely covered in ice. They use a narrow tread pattern, which provides a bigger pressure on the road surface and consequently more grip.

"This Pirelli tyre, intended for the usual snow and ice conditions of Sweden, incorporates compact plugs in order to best retain the studs: which are fundamental in providing good grip on the icy and snowy roads of Scandinavia. In order to provide the most tractio🅺n possible on snow, Pirelli's engineers have designed an extremely narrow and deeply sculpted tread pattern.

"The tyre is of an asymmetric design and the studs are added during the production process, using technology specially patented by Pirelli, rather than afterwards. Once again, just one type o൲f tread pattern, construction, compound and stud is allowed by the FIA - world motorsport's governing body.

"The construction is reinforced in the sidewalls in order to resist lacerations and punctures now that 🧸anti-deflation mousse has been outlawed.

"From next year, a new size of Pirelli Sott💜ozero Ice tyre will be made available, measuring 7" x 15". This has been introduced in order reduce the number of different rim sizes u🦩sed on the FIA World Rally Championship. Consequently, teams will have to use the same rims on snow rallies in 2009 as they do on conventional gravel rallies."