As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship rolls into Barcelona for the 2023 Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round, Pirelli have unveiled their tyre solutions for the round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and teams and riders will have a new front compound to use throughout. Pirelli will debut a new soft compound front tyre in Barcelona which will be in development throughout 2023 with the aiming of making the SC0 tyre a standard solution in 2024.
NEW FRONT TYRE: SC0 front to debut in Spain
The SC0 soft compound front tyre is the first soft front tyre developed by the Italian company for WorldSBK and is designed to help balance the bike with the soft rear solutions which offers very high grip levels. Each rider will have six of the SC0 front tyres available to them throughout the Catalunya Round, while they will also have eight each of the standard SC1 medium compound and standard SC2 hard compound as well as standard intermediate and full wet tyres in the event of rain; riders will have three sets of intermediates and eight sets of full wets.
DEVELOPMENTS CONTINUE WITH THE SCX: two super soft compounds available
For the rear of the bike, there will be two SCX super soft solutions available. The standard SCX tyre is back, with eight available per rider, while the SCX-A development solution also returns. Named the B0800, it debuted in France last year and was also used in the 2022 Catalunya Round as well as at Mandalika and Assen this season. The SC0 soft compound is also available at the rear with five available per rider while, in the Tissot Superpole session and 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race, riders will be able to use the SCQ extra soft compound. Two full wet tyres are available in case it rains, the SCR1 and SCR2, as well as the intermediate compound.
PIRELLI SAYS: explaining the tyre choices
Discussing the tyres available in Barcelona, Giorgio Barbier, Motorcycle Racing Director at Pirelli, said: “In Barcelona we will witness what, in its way, can be considered a historic debut in these 20 years of Pirelli in Superbike: for the first time ever, the WorldSBK riders will have a DIABLO Superbike in the soft SC0 compound available at the front. After expanding the range in the past seasons with the introduction of rear solutions in soft compounds, such as the SCX in 2020 and the SCQ in 2022, and having worked on the new front SC1 and SC2, we now decided it was time to complete the range also working on a front in soft SC0 compound with the aim to balance the high level of grip offered by the new soft solutions introduced for the rear wheel. The riders have already had the opportunity to test this new front solution, in specification B1148, in the winter tests and in those held in Barcelona at the end of March but this will be the first time ever that they will have it available in a race weekend. The goal, in line with our philosophy of making the tyres used in the World Superbike available to all motorcyclists, is to develop this SC0 during the season and then make it a standard solution, therefore purchasable on the market, in 2024.”
CONTINUING TO TEST: WorldSSP riders have different sizes front tyres again
At Assen, an experiment started to evaluate a potential move to WorldSBK-size front tyres in the intermediate class and this will continue in Barcelona. The SC1-A medium compound, from WorldSBK, is available in the 125/70 size as well as the standard SC1 soft compound which is in the current 120/70 size. Also available will be the SC2 medium tyre with three available to riders for this compound, compared to seven each of the SC1 tyres. At the rear, riders can use the standard SCX super soft compound, with seven available, and the SC0 soft compound with six available to use. In case of rain, riders will have the intermediate and SCR1 full wet tyre for both the front and rear.
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Source: WorldSBK.com