WSBK riders to test next year’s rubber
On 2 July Superbike teams and riders will be given their first opportunity to experience Pirelli’s new 17-inch Diablo Superbike tyres for themselves. The tyre maker has confirmed a test day will be held at the Aragòn circuit in Spain next Monday for riders to check out prototypes of the tyre size the Superbike World Championship will run on as of next year. As part of the day’s programme, riders will initially ride on the current 16.5-inch tyres for a few laps – the same tyres available for this weekend’s race – before moving on to the 17-inch tyres. Pirelli says four 17-inch front tyres and four rear tyres will be used; in order to make a direct comparison easier, both these and the 16.5-inch tyres will feature the same compound, SC1.
The decision to move to 17-inch tyres was strongly promoted by Pirelli and immediately accepted both by Infront and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (the International Motorcycling Federation). The 17-inch diameter has already been adopted by a number of national championships for cost reasons, and Pirelli believes next season “is the right moment” to introduce the size to Superbike as “motorcycle manufacturers and the market are ready for the change.” Pirelli notes that the 16.5-inch tyres now used in the World Superbike Championship (and also in endurance, BSB and CIV) were previously the market’s reference size; therefore the Italian manufacturer sees the move to 17-inch tyres as reflecting the Superbike philosophy of keeping the gap between bikes used in racing and those available on the market as narrow as possible.
Pirelli anticipates the World Superbike Championship will serve as a valuable training and testing ground that will allow it to study and better develop 17-inch tyres and help it remain true to its motto “we sell what we race, we race what we sell.
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