Pirelli Notes from Phillip Island
Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director Pirelli Moto, sums up the opening round of the 2012 Superbike World Championship held at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, from the point of view of the championship's official one-make tyre supplier.
"The track at Phillip Island, as we know, has always been a very demanding circuit for tyres as they are subjected to heavy and constant thermal-mechanical stress, especially on the left side because of the track layout. On top of this, add the asphalt from 1998 which, being so old, provides very little grip (which is why it will be resurfaced at the end of the year) and, above all, very high air and asphalt temperatures. Just think that on Saturday the air temperature reached 36-37 Celsius while the asphalt rose to 62. The tyres, which on most tracks usually operate at temperatures around 115-120 Celsius, reached 140-150 in this first race of the 2012 World Superbike Championship (measured with a pyrometer at a depth of 3 mm from the tread surface). Having made that statement which was necessary to fully comprehend the conditions in which the competition was held, we are satisfied with the way the weekend went.
"The tyres performed well, allowing all the riders to finish the scheduled race laps. The solutions we brought for SBK with a larger profile of 196.5 on the rear, in favour of a larger contact area to limit excessive wear on the left side, were very popular with the riders both in the SC0 soft compound and SC1 medium compound solutions, so much that no one opted for the classic 190 solution. The effectiveness of the solutions we brought here and their adaptability to the various teams' bikes was clearly demonstrated in race 2, where riders from four different teams took the first four places. Congratulations in particular to Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa who will no doubt provide us with great entertainment again this year, along with all the other contenders for the world title."
Pirelli BEST LAP Awards:
SBK Race 1 - Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team), 1' 31.785 (Lap 4)
SBK Race 2 - Carlos Checa (Althea Racing), 1' 32.846 (Lap 6)
WSS - Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step), 1' 35.274 (Lap 2)
