Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Pirelli returns to Portimão for the tenth round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with a brand-new Superpole® tyre and a new rear Slick
september 11, 2017 - Pirelli

Pirelli returns to Portimão for the tenth round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with a brand-new Superpole® tyre and a new rear Slick

After a year’s sabbatical, the Portuguese circuit returns to host the top racing competition for production based machines for the weekend’s races and the latest official tests of the season

Portimão (Portugal), 11 September 2017 - From 15 to 17 September 2017 at the spectacular Autódromo Internacional do Algarve of Portimão, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship will be back to action. Pirelli is ready to face this tenth round giving riders various well utilised solutions plus a brand-new Superpole® tyre and a new slick rear solution for WorldSBK class riders.
 
The new Superpole® rear tyre, which as a rule can only be used by riders entering into the second Superpole® session, was developed by Pirelli with the aim to continue offering riders the opportunity to roll out two fast laps but giving even more performance compared to the previous qualifier tyres and of course the normal slick race solutions.
The new rear slick race solution W0735 was designed as a further development of the W0575, which has been already used by the riders at Laguna Seca and Lausitzring, compared to which it uses particular structural arrangements.
In addition to these completely new options, WorldSBK riders will also be able to better test the performance of the new W0657 front soft solution. Introduced at the Lausitzring round it could not be properly race-tested due to the conditions of the weekend. This option uses a compound even softer than that the standard SC1 and for this reason it should provide very high grip to the front, ideal for a circuit like Portimão.
Even the WorldSSP class riders will be able to rely on a new development front, the SC1 W0378, that has been successfully launched in the German round and which uses the same compound of the standard SC1 with a different construction mixing process.
 
Pirelli has always been in favour of initiatives to support the growth of young emerging racing talents has supported the inclusion of promising Indonesian rider Galang Hendra Pratama. The eighteen-year-old, who runs with Yamaha in the Asia Production 250cc class of the Asia Road Racing Championship, will participate as a wildcard in the WorldSSP300 class at the Portuguese round.
 
In this regard, Giorgio Barbier, Sports Activities Director of Pirelli Moto, said: "We are glad to collaborate with Yamaha to encourage and develop some of the best young riding talent in the world and that’s the reason why we also decided to support the Yamaha VR46 Master Camp. For Pirelli, Asia is an important and growing market and just a couple of years ago we established a new factory in Indonesia so we are always interested in this kind of activity in order to increase our presence and visibility in the Asian markets. I believe the FIM World Supersport 300 Championship is the best way for a young rider to grow and gain experience before jumping to the major classes."
 
The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve was inaugurated in 2008 by architect Ricardo Pina and is 4592 metres long with 9 right-handers and six left-hand corners. The track has a configuration with a maximum gradient of 57 metres and a long turn radii that goes from 23 metres to a maximum of 207 metres.
Ten years after its inauguration, the Portuguese circuit has certainly lost the most aggressive character typical of the new asphalt and today offers less grip and is less severe on tyres than originally. The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve remains one of the circuits that best bring out the capacity of the tyre to operate in extremely different conditions because of its altitude changes and demanding blind entry curves. While the rear tyre is called to move from low to very high temperatures, the front has to perform strongly to enter the curve quickly and accurately. Unlike the rear, which undergoes few but intense mechanical/thermal stresses, the front is constantly used in slow turns and turns with fast entry.
 
On Monday after the race weekend, the circuit will also host the latest official tests and for Pirelli this will be the opportunity to let the riders try some new solutions in order to finalize the development and confirm the 2018 tyre range.
 
 
The solutions for WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes
 
At Portimão Pirelli arrives with a total of 4471 tyres for the riders of the four classes of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship to be used over the race weekend.
 
In WorldSBK, riders who enter the second Superpole® session will be able to use a new rear qualifier tyre, which, compared with its predecessors, should be able to guarantee even more significant performance, thus lowering the lap time even more than standard slick racing tyres.
 
With regard to the latter ones in total there will be seven solutions available to riders which, as always, can be replaced by intermediate or rain tyres in case of bad weather.
For the front the four options that have been used in the previous round of the Lausitzring are confirmed: in addition to the standard SC1 (soft) and SC2 (medium), there will be the development SC1 solution V0952 which apart from Germany has already been also carried in the rounds of Aragón, Assen, Imola, Donington, Misano and Laguna Seca. It uses the same compound of the standard SC1 featuring different structural solutions. The fourth solution is the development SC1 W0657, which was introduced by Pirelli at the Lausitzring round. This latter option uses a compound even softer than that of the standard SC1 and for this reason it should ensure an even higher grip to the front.
 
At the rear, Pirelli will offer three solutions, two in soft compounds and one in medium. In addition to the development SC0 W0575, introduced at Laguna Seca and also supplied at Lausitzring, which uses the same compound of the standard SC0 but solutions and structural arrangements already used successfully in the past, Pirelli proposes for this round the new soft development solution W0735, which differs from the standard solution but also from the W0575 because it has different structural solutions. The standard SC1 will be the third and final option: it offers a medium hardness of the compound that is positioned halfway between the soft and hard solution. The SC1 is the most popular solution when, too cold or because of a particularly abrasive asphalt, soft compounds cannot be used.
 
For the WorldSSP class Pirelli confirms the solutions already seen in action at Lausitzring. As for the front, in addition to the standard SC1 and SC2, Pirelli brings the new development SC1 W0378, which debuted in the German round and uses the same compound of the standard SC1 but with a different constructive process.
Two options for the rear: the standard SC0, which is the softest solution, and the SC1 V1201, a development of the medium solution that uses the same compound of the standard SC1 but should provide better mechanical resistance at low temperatures.
 
 
Pirelli 2015 statistics for Portimão
 
• Total number of tyres Pirelli brought: 4433
 
• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 5 front and 6 rear
 
• Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 34 front and 34 rear
 
• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSSP class: 5 front and 5 rear
 
• Number of tyres available for each WorldSSP rider: 25 front and 26 rear
 
• Superbike Best Lap Awards both won by: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team),in 1'42.637 (Race 1, 3rd lap) and in 1'43.034 (Race 2, 2nd lap)
 
• Supersport Best Lap Awards won by: Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing),in 1'45.411 (7th lap)
 
• Temperature in Race 1: air 25° C, asphalt 29° C
 
• Temperature in Race 2: air 30° C, asphalt 37° C
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 308.6 km/h, by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) in Race 2 at 6th lap
 
• Maximum race speed reached by the Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres: 278.4 km/h, by Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) at 3rd lap.

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