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The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship descends on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this week for the first round in Europe, following on from an incredible season-opener in Australia. The low grip track often provides a challenge and there’s an additional one in the form of two new Pirelli tyres, although the riders won’t be going in completely blind after having the opportunity to test them at the Supported Test last week.

NEW SUPER SOFT SCX: the C0900 available

After receiving lots of feedback on the B0800 SCX tyre – which was used a lot when it was available – Pirelli have brought a new variant of the development tyre. After it was tested at the same venue, last week, it forms part of the round allocation. Compared to the B0800, it features a different compound and structure, with the goal of increasing both stability and performance. The test was the first time it was brought to any event by Pirelli, with the Italian brand able to gain more data during the round. The rest of the rear tyres come from the standard range, with the standard SCX super soft, standard SC0 soft and standard SCQ extra soft – for use in the Tissot Superpole session and Tissot Superpole Race – available.

DEVELOPMENT MEDIUM: SC1 C0516 joins the WorldSBK party

The development SC1 medium tyre has been tested at other off-season tests, with Pirelli now bringing it to the Catalunya Round. When compared to the standard SC1, which is also available to use, it features the same compound but a different structure to try and give greater stability for the riders. You can read more about the new development SCX and SC1 tyres HERE. Alongside the two SC1 solutions is the SC2 hard tyre, which is often used at tracks which have a particular demand on the front tyre.

LIMITED CHOICE IN WORLD SUPERSPORT: two front, two rear choices

In WorldSSP, riders will have four solutions in total to choose from, spread equally between the front and rear tyres and all four come from the standard range. At the front, riders can choose the SC1 soft or SC2 medium compounds while, at the rear, the SCX super soft and SC0 soft tyres are available. WorldSSP racing in Barcelona has often been frantic and unpredictable and there’s no reason why that won’t continue in 2024.

PIRELLI SAYS: “this is a fairly demanding track… an excellent proving ground”

Explaining the tyre allocation, Pirelli’s Motorcycle Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier, said: “For us, Barcelona is an ideal circuit to introduce new tyres, first of all because the race weekend arrives shortly after two days of testing on this very track; therefore, we already have some data available, and also because this is a fairly demanding track for the tyres so it is an excellent proving ground to immediately understand if a solution has weak points. This year we bring two new tyres with the aim of further improving performance and stability compared to the standard solutions. The development front SC1 has already had good feedback both in the two tests carried out at the beginning of 2024 and in the one of last week, and for this reason it was a natural choice to add it to the race allocation. We have less information on the new C0900 rear, only coming from last week's tests;  it is a solution that follows in the footsteps of the B0800 introduced in 2022 and already widely used in 2023, we proposed it to the teams for the test last Thursday and Friday and the feedback was positive, which is why we decided to include it in the allocation for the race. High top speeds are achieved on the Barcelona circuit and riders should benefit from the greater stability offered by these new options”.

THE NEW ERA CONTINUES: watch every moment from 2024 LIVE and UNINTERRUPTED using the WorldSBK VideoPass!