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The Losail International Circuit in Doha will host the production derived Championship series for the seventh time (and at night for the second year in a row), the tyre company is also back on track to consolidate the solutions chosen for next season.

Pirelli, for the second consecutive year, will be the Event Main Sponsor of the last round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship to be held next weekend at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar. This round is therefore called the Pirelli Qatar Round.

The Losail International Circuit, inaugurated in 2004, is located a few kilometres away from the capital of Qatar and one of its unique strengths is that it can rely on an innovative lighting system which offers the opportunity to race at night.

The track is 5.380 km long with a 1.068 metres long finish straight. Six left turns and 10 right-handers make up this 12-metre wide track. The track is made up of high and medium speed corners plus a super fast main straight. Although artificial grass is placed around the circuit to limit the deposition of sand from the desert, the early sessions can see sand on the asphalt.

This is due to the winds on the Qatar peninsula moving sand that is then deposited on the track, dirtying it. At the sessions on Friday the riders are usually called to clean the track doing curves with constant radii where the front tyre tends to ‘tuck’ at some point, creating wear marks. On the rear, for the same reason, you can have a kind of "leopard spots" look.

The circuit also has never been re-asphalted so now is more worn and requires tyres, especially the front, with a good grip and able to compensate for the lost grip over the years from the asphalt. The circuit requires a good compromise between front wheel stability during challenging braking zones plus a good level of traction at the rear to properly set the trajectories out of the fast turns. So at the front you need a tyre capable of absorbing the high power accumulated during braking without suffering high ‘crushing’. At the rear instead we need to focus on a soft tyre to properly face the road surface and provide adequate traction. This choice, however, is complicated by the constant presence of sand on the circuit that reduces the grip and produces micro lateral slipping (stick and slide) which can cause tearing on the tread surface.

The Pirelli solutions for the Superbike and Supersport classes:

For the event that closes the 2015 season of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, Pirelli brings to Qatar a total of 2721 tyres that will be available to Superbike and Supersport riders, the only two classes that will be present.

In Superbike, each rider will have an option  of 65 tyres, 32 front and 33 rear slicks in different solutions plus the intermediate and wet tyres. Riders who will enter the Superpole on Saturday will also have a qualifier rear super soft tyre.