News

The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship heads to the Netherlands and the famous TT Circuit Assen, as the Motul Dutch Round beckons. Whilst there’s plenty of headlines coming into the round in terms of rider performance, form and manufacturers doing battle, there’s also news regarding tyre compounds available for the weekend ahead. Pirelli will bring two development front tyres – of which one is completely new for this weekend – as well as a familiar rear tyre allocation.

FRONT TYRE: an all-new compound makes its debut

Starting with the front tyre options, Pirelli brings three options: the standard SC1 soft compound, and two development solutions. The new development solution, A0843, is making its debut at Assen: it has the same structure as the A0674 spec with a new tread compound, to give better mechanical resistance and wear protection in demanding circuits like this one.

The development solution, A0674 in soft compound was used by the riders last year at Jerez and Portimao, as well as at Aragon in 2022. Compared to the standard SC1, this features a new structure developed to improve front end feeling by increasing support in mid and corner entry. In terms of success, the A0674 first won a race with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) at Portimao in Race 2 last year, with 2021 Ducati rider Scott Redding making it a 1-2 for the tyre. Rea also took the tyre to victory and two second place finishes in 2022’s opening round.

REAR SOLUTIONS: a familiar feel

As for the rear tyre options, riders have available the soft SC0 compound and the super soft SCX compound, also known in 2021 as the development solution A0557. The development solution SCQ in A1359 specification represents the first extra soft compound tyre that was validated by the riders during the winter tests, allowing in Aragon for a considerable improvement in lap times compared to the previous qualifying solution.

So far in 2022, the SCX standard has locked out all of the podium positions, with the majority of the field in all three races taking the option to run with the SCX standard – which is as aforementioned, last year’s development A0557. The big names who opted for something different both came in the Tissot Superpole Race with Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and teammate Xavi Vierge, when they opted to run the all-new for 2022 SCQ tyre.

LAST YEAR AT ASSEN

In 2021 at Assen, Jonathan Rea was uncatchable on his way to a triple, and he was a prominent rider in terms selecting tyres. Last year, the six-time World Champion stole the show and won Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race with a development SC1 A0721 – not available for this weekend – and the development SCX 0557, which is this year’s standard SCX. In Race 2, the front tyre compound selection was unchanged, whilst he used the SC0 standard for the rear. The only other rider to make a development combination work in a full race was Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), who took third in Race 2 with what Rea won on in Race 1 and the Superpole Race.

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