Pirelli to Continue Supplying Tyres for Superbike Championship

Following recent negotiations, FGSport, the planners behind the FIM Superbike World Championship, has signed an agreement with Pirelli to provide the tyres for the competition, as well as the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup and the UEM Supersport 600 European Championship, until 2012. Pirelli is the current supplier for all of these events, and the new contract will extend the run beyond the end of the season, where the current deal would have ended.

According to FGSport, the deal is reflective of the excellence shown by the Italian manufacturer over the past three years, in which no tyre has caused any incidents or recorded any breakages showing optimal reliability. Additionally, Pirelli’s ability to offer strong service and support made competitive bids difficult.

FGSport implemented a single-tyre supplier policy in 2004 in an agreement with the FIM designed to give competitors a level playing field, a decision that both organisations have credited with a portion of the growth and success of the sport.

Guglielmo Fiocchi, Managing Director of Pirelli Tyres, Business Unit Moto stated that, “The renewal of the contract is a great satisfaction for us and is above all the result of all the work we have done until today. A championship for production-based motorbikes is a championship that perfectly matches Pirelli’s philosophy, summed up in our slogan ‘We sell what we race, we race what we sell’. We have great faith in FGSport and in this championship, we know that there is still room for further growth and we are convinced that we can help bring it about together.”

Paolo Flammini, CEO of FGSport, added: “The first 5 years of working with Pirelli have provided results that go beyond all of our highest expectations, from the point of view of the quality of the product, the service and the profound commitment by Pirelli to development. In a positive but challenging scenario from a technical point of view, and in view of the increased level of participation that in 2010 will in all probability see at least 8 manufacturers present and at least 32 permanent bikes on the World Superbike grid, we are comforted by the fact that we can count on a tyre supplier who has demonstrated that it can guarantee total excellence from every point of view. We are also delighted to be able to confirm a further element of stability for the championship, which alongside a package of technical regulations that is as valid today as in the medium term, now also has a definite horizon until 2012 from the point of view of tyre supply.”