Pirelli announce two supersoft rears at Estoril

Pirelli and the FIM Superbike World Championship make a stop at Estoril for the penultimate round of the season, the second visit to Portugal after Portimão in August. A track that Pirelli knows well and that offers little grip, making it rather demanding for the tyres, which must still be able to guarantee good grip. For this reason, the allocation for the WorldSBK class riders includes two supersoft compound tyres for the rear, the standard SCX and its development version in D0820 specification. The latter has already been used in Magny-Cours and Cremona and, thanks to the new and more resistant compound but with similar performance in terms of grip, has achieved excellent acclaim.

Giorgio Barbier - Motorcycle Racing Director

A track with little grip is a great proving ground for the development supersoft

[i"We’ve been racing WorldSBK at Estoril for several years now, so we can say that we know the characteristics of this circuit very well, also because the asphalt has been the same since 2006, so we have a very solid history of information and data. The layout is very varied, and the surface often changes, in terms of perceived feeling, between corners, which is why it is quite demanding for the tyres that are subjected to high stress. The track is quite slippery, so you need to use soft compounds that can generate more grip, as well as compensate more quickly for the temperature differences between the right and left sidewalls, which are typical of Estoril. All our range solutions have already proven this year to be suitable for different situations and the development SCX in D0820 specification has also proven to be a very valid evolution. Already in its first appearance at Magny-Cours it gave a very positive response and was then widely used in Cremona, so we believe it is an excellent option for this round as well, given its new compound that maintains the grip levels of the standard SCX while being more protected in terms of wear. It will therefore be interesting for us to evaluate its performance even on this rather demanding track, so as to gather further useful information from a development perspective"[/i]

Tyres In Action

· Soft-oriented range: both front solutions for the WorldSBK riders will be standard, with 8 units of SC1 and as many SC2 tyres. For the rear, there are the standard SCX and the development supersoft in D0820 specification, present in 8 units each, as well as 5 units of SC0 and 4 of SCQ, the latter intended only for Superpole and Superpole Race. In the case of rain, each rider will have 3 Intermediate and 8 SCR1 tyres available, both for the front and rear. For the front, each WorldSSP rider will have 7 units of SC1 and 6 of SC2 at their disposal, while for the rear there will be 7 units of SCX and 6 of SC0. All solutions in this class are standard.

· Slippery asphalt: the circuit has an outdated asphalt, dating back to 2006, and is rather slippery, with even less performance in the case of high temperatures. The use of softer compounds is therefore the right choice to compensate for the lack of grip offered by the surface.

· Different temperatures on the shoulders of the tyres: Estoril is one of the most technical and demanding tracks for the tyres, because the layout with four left-handers and nine right-handers presents very different loads. The right-hand corners are quite fast and generate high temperatures in the corresponding shoulder of the tyre, while the left-hand corners, including the chicane, are much slower and produce significantly lower temperatures. In the long final corner that leads to the main straight, the tyres must sustain a high speed combined with high lean angles and offer traction when the riders open the throttle to seek the best thrust on the exit. On the straight, the bikes develop considerable speed and at the arrival at the first corner, with rather demanding braking, the support that the front tyre can offer is put to the test. 

More details on tyre allocation are available in the technical data sheets attached to this press release.