Earlier this week, Italian manufacturer Pirelli were confirmed as the Official Tyre Supplier for all classes of the FIM Superbike World Championship until 2018, having won the tender organised by promoter Dorna.
Pirelli has been the sole supplier to all classes in the series since 2004, and is now in it’s 11th year. This sees them hold the record as the longest running control tyre supplier in the history of motorsports at international level.
Giorgio Barbier, Racing Activities Director of Pirelli’s Business Unit Moto and Head of Superbike project for the Milanese Company since 2001, pointed out: “When we first believed in the single tyre supplier solution to reduce the cost of motorcycle racing, the idea was not accepted by everyone in a positive way. They were reluctant and some feared that the quality of the races as well as that of the tyres would have been affected. This has not been the case. In more than a decade Pirelli has been able to show that, if well managed, the single tyre supply not only allows the tyre manufacturer to make developments and make available to all motorcyclists unrivalled products, but also permits us to contribute in an important way to the show offered by the Championship. After Superbike, other championships such as Rally, FIA Formula One World Championship® and MotoGP™ have chosen this solution and other tyre manufacturers that until recently were the fiercest opponents of the control tyre, in the end changed idea. We are happy to have been the forerunners in this direction having understood how the competition could offer an advantage over our competitors through the transfer of technology from track to road. We will continue to strive to offer teams and riders of the Superbike World Championship, as well as all motorcyclists, tyres with more performance, using the strong philosophy that has always supported us in these years: We sell what we race, we race what we sell!”
After more than a decade of WSBK involvement, we take a look at what Pirelli have achieved so far:
- 715,213 produced, covering 661 different solutions.
- Raced on 24 circuits, in 16 countries over the course of 268 races.
- More than 1,000,000 kilometres on track covered
- Average reduction in race times of 0.7 seconds per year
- Introduction of 17″ front tyres as of 2013.
The 2014 series has been very open, and with Tom Sykes leading Sylvain Guintoli by just 31 points after the action in Jerez last weekend it will be another exciting finish to the year!
