With the 2020 British Superbike season set to get underway this weekend at Donington, Pirelli have confirmed that they will be rolling out a range of larger Diablo Superbike Slick tyres at the event.
The Italian brand has been the sole tyre supplier to the prestigious Bennetts BSB series since 2008, and in that time they have built strong partnerships with both the series and the teams to give consistent service and support, with roughly 4,000 tyres brought to every single event.
The new slick size was developed during the 2019 World Superbike Championship, another series to which Pirelli has been a long time sole supplier. This latest tyre now forms part of Pirelli’s ‘production’ tyre range, available to racers and track day riders of all levels.
During the off season teams from the Bennetts BSB series headed to Spain and had the opportunity to test this latest option, experiencing the slightly different characteristics they offer. Set up data from the 2019 season will still be relevant however, with the construction and compounds having been used before.
The new front tyre has a wider contact patch as it moves from a 120 to 125 section (now 125/70 R17). This development is claimed to aid stability when the bike drops into a corner. During testing in World Superbikes, many riders reported an increased feeling of front end confidence in this crucial moment with the new tyres.
The increased diameter 65 rear tyre (now 200/65 R17) improves grip under hard acceleration when exiting the corners.
The tyres have been developed as a matched pair to provide the best balance of front end feeling and rear end grip.
In the Superbike class, riders are allocated 11 rear tyres and 8 front slick tyres. A maximum of 3 new rear slicks may be used across all qualifying practices. When three races are scheduled an additional set of slick tyres is authorised.
Jason Griffiths Pirelli UK Racing Manager explained:
“Pirelli introduced the new larger size slicks to the BSB Superbike class during the preseason test in late February. As always the development process of these tyres has taken place in the WSBK arena. It was a very positive introduction at the tests and now we’ll get to see the material in action on UK circuits. The new SC0 rear in particular should provide a step up in performance whilst maintaining durability. We’re keen to start work on what will no doubt be an extremely competitive series.”
