Pirelli have uncovered their solutions for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship visit to Donington Park, with a focus on soft tyres at the rear. Pirelli have opted to mostly bring solutions from their standard range to the Prosecco DOC UK Round with only one development solution available to teams and riders throughout Round 6 as the 2023 campaign reaches the halfway point of the season.
There is an extra challenge for everyone after the Donington Park circuit was resurfaced, but Pirelli have experience of the new surface thanks to their involvement in the British Superbike championship which raced there in May. With plenty of feedback from BSB’s visit, the Italian manufacturer have decided to focus on softer compound tyres at the rear with the majority of solutions available coming from the standard range.
There are four choices for the rear available to the WorldSBK grid with the standard SC0 soft compound the hardest available, while there are two SCX super soft solutions available. The standard SCX is joined by the SCX-A, known as the B0800 SCX, to continue comparison work with the standard SCX. For the Tissot Superpole session, and the Tissot Superpole Race, riders will be able to use the SCQ.
At the front, there are just two slick tyre compounds to choose from. The SC1 medium tyre and the SC2 hard make up the selection. The SC1 is one of the most popular tyres selected throughout 2022 and 2023, while the SC2 compound made its debut as the A0843 specification at Assen last year before being brought into the standard range.
In WorldSSP, there are two compounds available at the front and rear. At the front, riders can choose from two SC1 compounds. The SC1 soft is a standard specification tyre while the SC1-A is a medium compound from WorldSBK as Pirelli continue to evaluate the potential for this compound to be used in WorldSSP. For the rear tyres, the standard SCX super soft and the SC0 soft tyres are available to pick.
Discussing the tyre selections, Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Motorcycle Racing Director, said: “The novelty this year at Donington is undoubtedly the new asphalt. The resurfacing seems to have made the surface more uniform and to have optimised drainage in case of rain, but at the same time the abrasiveness has also increased. Even if a new asphalt is always an important unknown factor for tyre manufacturers, in this case we are quite calm because the feedback from the riders of British Superbike – another Pirelli single-tyre championship, who raced here in May was very positive.
“In particular, the important increase in grip and the greater consistency of the surface were appreciated and the results were also seen in terms of lap times, given that many new lap records were set, in some cases even with notable improvements. On the other hand, the new asphalt seems to be more aggressive, and this could make the rear SC0 a key solution because it is more resistant than the SCX, and it has in fact been the most used by the BSB riders. In any case, I expect that, if the weather conditions are right, the WorldSBK riders will also be able to show very interesting times.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com