The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returns once again to Italy for the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round. The Misano World Circuit "Marco Simoncelli" is steeped in motorsport history. Among its storied resume, the track has hosted 32 World Superbike rounds, a record among Italian circuits, and fewer than only Phillip Island and Assen. The 4.226 km circuit lies just outside of the storied motorsport manufacturing city of Rimini, where Bimota is based, and only two kilometres from the sunny shores of the Adriatic Sea.
KEY AREAS OF THE TRACK: “QUERCIA” AND “CURVONE”
According to Brembo engineers who work closely with 13 of the 14 teams in the Superbike World Championship, the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” falls into the category of “moderately demanding” on the brakes. On a scale from 1 to 5, it has earned a difficulty index of 3 despite having 11 braking points per lap, for a total brake-usage time of 27.3 seconds. Three braking points are classified as high, five as medium, and three as light.
Of the track’s two most important corners, it would be hard to overstate the centrality of the heavy-braking “Quercia” Turn 8 and the long and fast “Curvone” Turn 11. The former follows after a tight and slow Turns 4-6; slow and technical, riders keep a knee down on the back-to-back right-handers Turns 4 and 5 before rolling the bike over on Turn 6 and laying on the throttle as they charge down a slightly-bending Turn 7. The run into the subsequent Turn 8 is the heaviest braking zone on the track, riders go from 276 km/h to 75 km/h in 4.4 seconds, during which they cover 197 meters. Riders apply a load of 5.2 kg on the brake lever and experience a deceleration of 1.5 g while the brake fluid pressure reaches 11.2 bar as they get on the brakes and lean to the left.
“Curvone is challenging because the bike slides in fifth gear”
The wide, parabolic exit of the corner allows for overtaken riders to get their revenge on the cutback or make a move of their own down into the Turn 10 hairpin. Their exit there is vital, however, as rounding out of Turn 10 riders can again open the throttle and keep it open if they have the bravery. After a long back straight, the track leans right on the “Curvone” Turn 11, testing the mettle of even the hardest in the paddock. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) has performed well in his sophomore WorldSBK season, and Misano was a weekend he had circled since rejoining the paddock on account of his affinity for Turn 11.
On the “Curvone” Turn 11, Baldassarri said: “The best part of Misano to me is the fastest corners, especially the Curvone. You are almost full throttle. Corners like Curvone are really nice, but they are also quite challenging because the bike starts sliding in fifth gear and touching the limiter…It’s a mixed feeling between difficult and exciting.”
BREMBO’S MASTER CYLINDER MASTERPIECE
From the heavy braking of “Quercia” Turn 8 to other tracks with even harsher braking zones, since his debut in the Superbike World Championship in 2024, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) has been using the Brembo index master cylinder to control the rear brake both during braking and acceleration. The mechanism is used by manipulating a control located on the left clip-on. Compared to the thumb master cylinder, the setup is different, with a 180-degree rotation, although the purpose remains the same: to enhance modulation during deceleration and corner exit, allowing for quicker cornering.
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