Pirelli honours 25 years of WSBK with ‘Silver Stripes’ tyre
This year the World Superbike Championship celebrates its 25th anniversary, and Pirelli – who has been involved in the series from its inception and as sole supplier since 2004 – has decided to mark the occasion by creating an exclusive version of the Superpole tyre the riders will use at Monza on 5 May to decide the starting order for the next day’s races.
This exclusive “Silver Stripes” version of the ‘supersoft’ compound Superpole Diablo Superbike tyre has six silver – the colour traditionally associated with 25 year anniversaries – stripes on the tread, and a label on the side depicting the Italian flag and commemorative logo designed by Infront to celebrate the World Superbike Championship’s quarter century milestone.
“All of our knowledge begins with experience, just as knowing means remembering, and so we remember when we at Pirelli got back into world motorcycle competitions: this was after years of minor activity, and the historical Grand Prix races with Gilera, Guzzi, etc. had been forgotten,” said Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing director and part of the Superbike project from its start in the late 1980’s. “After the first slicks evolved in the early eighties on a national and European level, diving into the new World Superbike adventure in 1988 was a choice of passion and courage. We chose team Rumi, outgoing World champion and its rising star, American rider Fred Merkel. A hard year, full of excitement, disappointments and successes: a championship which was won in the last round in New Zealand against Mertens, who would later go on to become a Pirelli rider. Since then, the Pirelli sports identity in the motorcycle world has once again been a culture of constant undertaking and commitment.”
The long partnership with World Superbike has allowed Pirelli to develop a series of products for road and track, most notably the Diablo range. Pirelli also says the experience it has gained through this championship helped guide it towards many of its current motorsport commitments, such as Motocross, Enduro, as well as Rally and finally a return to F1.
“This is certainly a very important milestone, not only for Infront Motor Sports and the World Superbike Championship, but for the entire two wheeled sport competition world,” Barbier added. “In spite of the economic crisis during the 1990s and in recent years, the World Championship continued to grow consistently both in terms of visibility and prestige, carving out a major role for itself in international motorcycling. The Flammini brothers’ project showed itself from the very beginning to be a winner, attracting important riders that would go on to become legends. Pirelli believed in this project from the beginning, and from 2004 they were chosen as sole official supplier for all four classes of World Superbike, adding their contribution to the excitement that these races provide fans every weekend. We are therefore pleased to be able to celebrate this event together with Infront and all the others involved and we are confident that the World Superbike Championship will continue to grow in the years to come.”
About 30 Pirelli patents stem from its WSBK experience, patents related to various aspects of tyre technology, including the contact area (EPT), tread design, compounds and processes. Many of Pirelli’s latest products, such as the Diablo Supercorsa SP, Diablo Rosso Corsa and the Diablo Rosso II, contain elements drawn from these technologies.
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