Pirelli is ready to face the new asphalt of the Misano circuit with two new rear solutions for the Superbike and one for the Supersport classes

The eighth round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, which will see the long-awaited return to competition of Max Biaggi as a wild card, in addition to Luca Scassa, will take place over the weekend on the newly resurfaced Italian track that, for this reason, could be particularly aggressive on tyres

Sold out for the second Pirelli SBK® Track Day, dedicated to motorcyclists who love the Pirelli brand, which will take place on Monday in the Romagna’s circuit one day after the championship of the production derived series

The eighth round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship that will take place over the weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, is for several reasons one of the most awaited of the season.

Pirelli ambience

The track of the Romagna region will in fact be the background for the great return of Max Biaggi, the six times World Champion Roman rider who, at almost 44 years, will return to the stage in the championship of the production derived series as a wild card riding an Aprilia. The same team with which in 2012 he won his last Superbike World Championship before announcing his retirement from competition. With Max Biaggi back on track is also Luca Scassa who will also race as a wild card, on a third Ducati Panigale R provided by the Aruba.it-Racing Ducati SBK Team, after a serious injury last year which has prevented him to get on track for the rest of the season. Besides these two great names that will surely bring many Italian fans to Misano, the next weekend could be very important for the championship: if Jonathan Rea were to realize another double, the fifth of the season, he would almost guarantee the world title. No less important are the news from Pirelli side: the tyre company has developed for the second Italian round several new solutions, specifically two rear for the Superbike and one rear for Supersport, that could be crucial to face the new asphalt of the Romagna’s circuit and particularly the high temperatures that usually occur in this period. At the end of the race weekend the circuit of Misano will host the second, (after Imola), Italian Pirelli SBK^® Track Day, the initiative dedicated to all riders who love the Pirelli brand that for one day can experience the excitement of Superbike riding on the same track where the day before the Superbike riders raced. The Pirelli SBK^® Track Days provide 7 events on 13 circuits in which takes place the eni FIM Superbike World Championship. The track day at Misano confirmed the passion of the Italian riders for the brand of the elongated P logo, all available seats have gone; in fact sold out in April, a few days after the opening of the registration. Misano VS tyres: the new asphalt and high temperatures are the main unknowns The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, this is the official name of the circuit dedicated to the memory of the famous Italian motorcycle racer, is a 4226 metres long track with 10 right-handers and 6 left turns, a minimum width of 12 metres and a total of 1,850 metres straights with the finish straight which measures 510 metres. The circuit was designed in 1969 with an initial length of 3488 metres and in 1972 sport competitions began. Following a renovation project in 1993, the track became 4060 metres long and a new building with garage and a press area of ​​600 square metres were built. In the following years the building on the finish straight was completed and the pits and paddock area was enlarged and several stands were built. Since 2005 the circuit underwent a major restructuring and at the end of 2006 a work of modernizing the circuit began, concerning the extension of the track to 4180 metres. The track was also reversed to become clockwise, while the circuit now takes the official name by which it is known today ‘Misano World Circuit.’ With the costruction, in early 2008, of a new 250 meter long exit lane of the pits which required changes to the "Variante del Rio", the circuit has then reached the current length and is now approved to host 75,000 spectators. This year, at the beginning of March, in ten days the circuit has been completely resurfaced with the laying of 53,000 square metres of asphalt, as well as programs such as those involving the escape routes, redesigned according to the safety calculations of DroCAS™. To increase decelerating capacity if there is a damage while maintaining space for maneuver in the event of error, the new curbs with embedded drainages and reprofiling of existing ones, the review of the system of drainage and surface sections and profiles revised to increase the surface flatness. Two new sidetracks were also made, the Brutapela and the Acquedotto, introducing curves with original designs specially designed for driving schools, new anti-skid removable paint have been applied and the re-profiling of all curves to improve vehicle dynamics and driving pleasure has been made. It was thus created two new circuit configurations: the "Brutapela Track", which is 986 metres long and is located behind the grandstand of the same name which occupies the area of ​​Rio and the variant of the Park with its seven curves; and the "Track 3.5" which is 3211 metres long with nine curves. The new surface, which was developed with a special formula to combat the effects of salt and humidity, will be the most important unknown factor for the tyres this year. With resurfacing the troughs which were present in the past should be gone and the track should then have reduced the lap time, approximately about a second per lap. The track is a very sinuous one, the most challenging section is definitely the one after the fast “Curvone”; which is a series of right-hand corners that require a high mechanical and thermal stress for tyres on the leaning shoulder. The straights are quite short and do not allow high ‘tipping in’ speeds, but they create different braking and acceleration points. With resurfacing, this year the asphalt is sure to be much more aggressive and abrasive on the tyres than in the past and, in the case of high temperatures, this could compromise the accuracy of the trajectory through the turn and holding a line.

Working area

This explains why Pirelli has brought to this round tyres with compounds of different hardness, from the softest to the hardest, able to face different situations depending on the asphalt and the temperatures you may encounter. As for the rear tyre, they should be able to offer a good grip but especially to resist over distance excessive wear which could be caused by the new asphalt. They must also ensure high thermal protection to prevent slippage, frequent with high temperatures. Not very different are the considerations on the front tyres, which are actually more stressed in this circuit. The solutions brought by Pirelli will have to maintain stability into the corner through the front axle. The Pirelli solutions for Superbike and Supersport classes: For the eighth round in the calendar Pirelli brings to Misano a total of 5108 tyres, which will cover the needs of the Superbike, Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600 and European Junior Cup classes. Of this amount to the Superbike riders are dedicated 2089 tyres, for Supersport class there are 1539, for the Superstock 1000 the tyres are 720 and for the Superstock 600 there are 640. Finally the riders of the European Junior Cup will benefit a total of 120 tyres. In Superbike each rider will have 39 front and 41 rear tyres, with four dry solutions for the front and as many for the rear in addition to the intermediate and wet tyres and to the rear qualifier tyre that can be used only in the two Superpole sessions on Saturday.

At the front the riders can choose between two specific SC1 compounds and two in SC2. There will be the development SC1 S1699, which debuted successfully at Aragón in 2014 and offers more support in the approach to bends in favour of a better steering precision, and the other SC1 development, the T1467, which has debuted this year at Assen and was also used at Imola and Donington and that, compared to the S1699, it is protected from wear and at the same time is more stable than a SC2. As regards the two solutions in SC2 compound, standard SC2 will be accompanied by the development solution T0020, brought for the first time last year in Misano and then also in Jerez and Losail and that with respect to the standard SC2 should ensure more grip with same support offered. At the rear there are one SC0, two SC1 and one SC2. The riders will meet the development SC0 T0611, which debuted in Imola and using a very soft compound can offer a very high level of grip when used with high temperatures and development SC1 T1392, which differs from the standard SC1 for a different construction system that guarantees a more homogeneous and constant behaviour for the duration of the race. In addition to these two solutions that riders already know, there will be two new development solutions: the SC1 U562, which compared to a solution such as the T1392 should offer greater mechanical resistance, valuable feature on the new asphalt of Misano, and the R1689, in SC2 compound, a solution developed in endurance competition that should be more robust from the mechanical point of view, always considering the new asphalt of Misano. In the Supersport class each rider can choose 26 front and 32 rear tyres for a total of three dry solutions for the front and four for the rear in addition to the wet tyres. At the front the development SC1 S1485 already seen in Aragón, Assen, Imola, Donington and Portimão, will be joined by the development SC1 U0564, which compared to the S1485 should be more protected from wear and at the same time more stable than the standard SC2 which is the last option available. At the rear there are a solution in soft compound and three in medium compound. The soft solution is the new development SC0 U442, which compared to the standard solution should offer more stability. These instead are the three SC1: the standard SC1, the U0563 that uses a different system of construction which should confer greater homogeneity and more consistent performance for the duration of the race and the T1394 that uses the same compound of the standard SC1 but is presented in a increased 190/60 size. The 2014 Pirelli statistics for Misano:

• • Total number of tyres Pirelli brought: 4953


• • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 6 front and 7 rear


• • Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 39 front and 41 rear


• • Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 4 rear


• • Number of tyres available for each Supersport rider: 27 front and 23 rear


• • Superbike Best Lap Awards won by: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1'35.629 (Race 1, 5^th lap) and by Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), 1'36.033 (Race 2, 2^nd lap)


• • Supersport Best Lap Award won by: Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), 1’39.436 (5^th lap)


• • Temperature in Race 1: air 29° C, asphalt 38° C


• • Temperature in Race 2: air 28° C, asphalt 44° Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 275.9 km/h,in Race 1 by Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) at 1^st lap.


• • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC tyres in Supersport race: 238.9 km/h, Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) and Kev Coghlan (DMC Panavto-Yamaha) respectively at 7^th and 1^st lap.