In the fourth round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship it is triumph for Honda, standard soft tyres and EVO tyres with Pirelli playing a key role
The Tokyo based manufacturer took a double win in Superbike with a brilliant performance by Jonathan Rea, new leader in the overall standings, as well as taking the Supersport win with Lorenzo Zanetti. Pirelli received excellent feedback on the new tyre developed for the EVO riders and confirmation on the standard SC0 solution It was a Honda coloured weekend at Imola for the fourth round of the eni FIM World Superbike Championship. In fact, the Tokyo based manufacturer flexed its muscles thanks to a brilliant double win in Superbike by Englishman Jonathan Rea, who also won both Pirelli Best Lap Awards, and Lorenzo Zanetti's win in Supersport. In the Superbike class the soft rear standard DIABLO™ Superbike solutions performed well for the Superbike riders who unanimously opted for the standard SC0 solution whereas almost all the EVO riders chose the special solution dedicated to them. On the front, on the other hand, the SC1 S1699 development solution was once again the preferred choice among the riders. For Race 1 it was an all British podium. After winning pole position on Saturday afternoon, Jonathan Rea(Pata Honda World Superbike Team) practically rode a solitary race, passing under the chequered flag in front of all his rivals. Behind him Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) rode an excellent race after starting from the fourth spot on the grid, followed by the current championship leader Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who came back from sixth to finish in third. In Race 2 the story was much the same with practically all the riders choosing the same tyres already used in Race 1 and Jonathan Rea back on the top step of the podium followed once again by Chaz Davies.Aprilia's Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli finished third for the Noale based company. Only managing to finish fourth, Tom Sykes was unable to repeat the brilliant double win from last year at the Imola track, losing the top spot in the overall standings in favour of Jonathan Rea, who also won the Pirelli Best Lap Award in both Race 1 and Race 2. In the Supersport World Championship race the standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC1 tyres performed very well, chosen for the front by 90% of the riders on the starting grid. On the rear, on the other hand, the riders choice was more or less split between the standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC0 and the new SC1 S0624 development solution. It was Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport) who took the win, the first of his Supersport career, followed by team mate and current championship leader, DutchmanMichael Vd Mark and Frenchman Fabien Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres). Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu, forced to withdraw from the race, won the Pirelli Best Lap Award for the fastest lap of the race. In the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup it was an all Ducati podium for the 1199 Panigale R: the win went toOndrej Jezek (Barni Racing Team),followed by Fabio Massei (EAB Racing Team)and team mate Leandro Mercado. As for the Superstock 600 FIM European Championship held on Saturday, twenty year-old Italian Marco Faccani (San Carlo Team Italia) repeated his performance at Aragón with another win, moving into second place in the standings, just two points behind the leader, Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing), who holds onto the leadership with 58 points after finishing second at Imola. The podium for the Italian round was completed in the Stock 600 class by Stefano Casalotti (VFT Racing) on his Yamaha YZF R6. Comment from Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Director: “First of all I would like to compliment Honda for their exceptional performance: Superpole, double win, Pirelli Best Lap Award and a Supersport win. Jonathan Rea confirmed that the Imola track is one of his favourites and Lorenzo Zanetti also did very well with his first ever Supersport victory. In terms of tyres the important moment for us will actually be tomorrow when we hold a day of testing where the riders will be able to try out various new solutions that we have developed. The races today simply confirmed what we already expected: that in hot weather all the riders would opt for the standard soft solutions and the new EVO solution for the riders in that category. We are quite pleased with the latter solution. The fact that it was chosen by practically all the EVO riders simply confirms for us that for this class, at least on this circuit, it performs better than the standard soft tyre. Without a doubt we will now have to see it in action in different situations before we can effectively assess its true potential. The Championship is still long. We are working well with all the teams and riders, so the season results thus fare are definitely positive.” The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders: More than anything else, Pirelli received confirmation at Imola. On the rear the new tyre dedicated solely for the EVO riders was chosen by practically all of them, whereas the Superbike riders opted for the standard SC0 solution. These are two excellent solutions, both in a soft compound, for high temperature conditions. On the front the new SC1 S1699 development solution returned the nth confirmation, chosen by ¾ of the riders. In Supersport 90% of the riders chose the standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC1 solution on the front, whereas the remaining 10% opted for the standard SC2. On the rear, on the other hand, partly due to the high temperatures, the standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC0 was the tyre of choice for about half the riders on the grid and a strong 40% chose the new SC1 S0624 development solution, with the remaining 10% mounting the standard SC1. Pirelli Best Lap Award: The Pirelli Best Lap Awards, the prizes that are assigned to the riders with the fast laps in the Superbike and Supersport races, were presented in the Paddock Show during the press conference that follows the podiums at the end of the race day. The Superbike and Supersport rider who has earned the most “Pirelli Best Lap Award” titles at the end of the season will be elected “Best Lap Winner: fastest rider of the year” and awarded during the end of year ceremony. These are the riders who won the Pirelli Best Lap Awards at Imola: WSB Race 1 – Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), 1'47.532 (6th lap) WSB Race 2 – Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), 1'47.356(2nd lap) WSS – Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India), 1’51.733 (6th lap) The overall standings after the first four rounds are as follows: WSB: Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team): 2; Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team): 2; Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team): 2; Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team): 1; Alex Lowes(Voltcom Crescent Suzuki): 1 WSS: Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport): 1; Roberto Tamburini (San Carlo Puccetti Racing): 1; Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team): 1; Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India): 1 The 2014 Pirelli statistics for the Imola round: • Total number of tyres Pirelli brought: 4642 • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 5 front and 7 rear • Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 36 front and 35 rear • Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet):: 4 front and 5 rear • Number of tyres available for each Supersport rider: 23 front and 26 rear • Temperature in Race 1: air 22° C, asphalt 30° C • Temperature in Race 2: air 23° C, asphalt 34° C • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 287.6 kms/h, in Race 1 by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) at 7th lap • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres in Supersport: 250.7 kms/h, Fabien Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) at 5th lap.