News

Giorgio Barbier (Racing Director Pirelli Moto) analyses the fourteenth and final round of the year, held at the Magny-Cours circuit in France.

"With the Magny-Cours round Pirelli concludes an important season, the ninth in a row as sole supplier of all the World Superbike Championship classes. But today was above all a day for the participants to celebrate, that is, the riders and the teams. Pirelli congratulates first and foremost Max Biaggi and the Aprilia Racing team who have achieved a splendid double win in a 3 year period in confirmation of the excellent work done by the entire team in the Championship these past few years. It would be impossible, however, not to mention Biaggi's two fiercest rivals, Tom Sykes on his Kawasaki and Marco Melandri on his BMW, who contributed to making this year an exciting championship down to the last race.

"This was a Superbike Championship which was marked by an extremely battle between riders from various teams throughout the season. In fact, riders from five different motorcycle manufacturers placed in the top five, demonstrating the excellent work Pirelli has done in developing solutions which work well on different brand bikes. Our compliments also go once again to Kenan Sofuoglu and the Kawasaki Lorenzini team for their win in World Supersport, as well as to Sylvain Barrier and Michael VD Mark for their respective victories in Superstock1000 FIM Cup and Superstock 600 UEM European Championship.

"Also, this year (as in 2011), Pirelli decided to provide incentives for our rising stars in European motorcycling who participate in the national Superstock 600 championships: this is why the Pirelli Superstock 600 Series was established last year, a Pirelli initiative which once again provided the most talented riders from the various European STK600 Championships with the opportunity to take part as wild cards in the last European Superstock 600 Championship race held here in France. The 3 riders who placed the highest in the race standings were Italian Franco Morbidelli who races in CIV, Brit Lee Jackson who races in British Superbike and Austrian Marco Nekvasil from IDM. These riders were awarded a commemorative plaque and also received a monetary prize as an incentive for their growth and careers. In closing, we are very satisfied with the work done this year in the production-based Championships and we are ready to take on the next season where we will be faced with a new challenge: the new 17 inch tyres which will replace the 16.5" format which have been used until now in the World Superbike Championship."

PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARDS:

SBK Race 1 - Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) 1'53.143 (Lap 17)
SBK Race 2 - Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 1'39.237 (Lap 5)
Total BEST LAP (SBK): Checa C. (Althea Racing) 8, Biaggi M. (Aprilia Racing Team) 5; Melandri M. (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 4; Sykes T. (Kawasaki Racing Team) 3; Guintoli S. (PATA Racing Team) 2; Baz L. (Kawasaki Racing Team) 1; Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorad Italia Goldbet) 1; Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1; Laverty E. (Aprilia Racing Team) 1; Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 1
FASTEST RIDER OF THE YEAR: With 8 best lap awards Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) is the 2012 Pirelli Best Lap Winner for the Superbike class.

WSS - Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda), 1'47.416 (Lap 6)
Total BEST LAP (WSS): Cluzel J. (PTR Honda) 3; Lowes S. (Bogdanka PTR Honda) 3; Foret F. (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) 2; Parkes B. (Ten Kate Racing Products) 2; Lanzi L. (Prorace) 1; Morais S. (Kawasaki Lorenzini) 1; Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini) 1
FASTEST RIDER OF THE YEAR: With 3 best lap awards and the highest position in the overall standings Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) is the 2012 Pirelli Best Lap Winner for the Supersport class.

STK1000 - Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) 1'59.525 (Lap 7)
STK600 - Riccardo Russo (Team Italia FMI) 1'44.417 (Lap 6)