Pirelli Considers Different Compounds for Saturday and Sunday
WorldSBK tyre supplier contemplating new approach for 2017
Pirelli is thinking about introducing different tyre options for the Saturday and Sunday races in WorldSBK from next season onwards.
At the start of the 2016, there was a new look to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as a regular race format of Race 1 on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday was introduced for the first time. Not only does this spread the racing across the weekend, but also allows teams almost 24 hours between the end of one race and the start of the next, thus allowing greater time to analyse the opening encounter and make the necessary bike changes ahead of the next challenge on the following day.
This new format has provided food for thought at Pirelli, the Milan-based company which has served as WorldSBK’s sole tyre supplier since 2004.
“This year we have had the very important change in timing, with one race on Saturday and another on Sunday,” explains Giorgio Barbier, Racing Director of Pirelli Moto. “This has brought some different approaches from the teams’ point of view, in terms of practice time as well.
“Friday is now quite limited, in having just one day to prepare everything ahead of the race on Saturday, but at the same time it has been really interesting because the Saturday race is another test for everybody. Then, for Sunday, they make a lot of changes on the bikes because they have the time to do it; this has completely changed the attitude the teams have for setting up, both for the bike and the tyres.”
Barbier goes on to suggest that two different lists of options could be available for the teams and riders – one for Saturday, one for Sunday – from 2017 onwards:
“We have made some considerations about this. For next season we will play with this even more, maybe having different solutions available for Saturday and Sunday to depend on the setups on the bikes. For sure, Australia is the most important round of the season and we are already preparing the tyres for next season, bearing in mind the experience we have gathered with the new race format this year.”
In now traditional fashion, the 2017 season will kick off at Phillip Island in February.
