Superbike, Pata UK Round: the point on Pirelli's choices

It was a challenging round for Pirelli that held last weekend at Donington Park: the sole manufacturer had brought the same solutions already seen in action at Imola to the WorldSBK class, also to verify the good performances shown by some types in development such as for example the front SC1 V0952 and the rear SC0 V0602.

Furthermore, considering the variable climate of the area, among the over 4800 tires available for all four classes on the track, in case of rain the riders would have been able to count on a new wet rear solution which compared to the standard 190/60 solution, It comes in size 200/60.
In fact, with the exception of the Superstock 1000 and WorldSSP300 classes which always use the same standard solutions throughout the year, in the WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes the riders always have at least two solutions available for the front and the same number for the rear.

Let's see in detail the solutions brought by Pirelli for the Pata UK Round: at the front the riders had the complete range available with the soft SC1, the medium SC2 and the hard SC3, in addition to the two development solutions SC1 V0952, which was the front solution most used in Race 2 at Imola, and the V1271, which the riders tested in the tests at Aragón and which they then used at Assen and Imola.
At the rear, the standard soft SC0 is joined by the new V0602 development solution, which was used by a good number of teams in Imola, especially in Race 1, but needs to be tested on various circuits to understand its real potential.
As a third option, in case of typical low morning temperatures, we saw the V1199 which offers an SC1 compound with particular structural features.

Pirelli's choices were at the center of attention especially after Race 1 due to Jonathan Rea's fall when he was fighting for the victory: the accident was caused by the rear tyre, which progressively lost pressure, to the point of causing a loss of adhesion.
The episode caused some concern given that it happened at the Craner curve, a downhill change of direction, which is traveled at a speed of over 200 km/h, but fortunately Rea had no consequences.

The tire in question was a development SC0, code V0602, which had successfully debuted at Imola and which according to Pirelli's plans should have performed better than the standard SC0.
This solution, however, is effective with high asphalt temperatures, conditions that did not persist at Donington, given that the asphalt was only 30 degrees compared to 42 in Race 1 and 44 in the second heat at Imola.

However, as well as Rea, the V0602 was also used by all three riders who got on the podium in Race 1, as well as by Melandri, Van der Mark and Krummenacher, who regularly finished the race, so it cannot be said that the solution was not suitable for Donington, furthermore the tire had a cut.

However, since it is a development tyre, for which there is therefore no history of race behavior in different conditions, Pirelli has decided to withdraw it for Race 2, while waiting for all the possible causes of Rea's accident to be assessed.
Below is the press release issued on Saturday evening by the Pirelli press office.

Pirelli, in mutual agreement with Dorna and the Race Direction of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, has decided to withdraw the V0602 development rear solution (option A) from the tire allocation available to the WorldSBK class riders for the Donington Park round .

The decision was made following what happened in Race 1 to Jonathan Rea's (Kawasaki Racing Team) rear tire which, during the twenty-first lap, suddenly lost pressure causing the rider to fall.

While specifying that the withdrawn solution has never shown any problems until now, having been used successfully by many drivers in both Race 1 and Race 2 in the Imola round and by several drivers, including Tom Sykes, Alex Lowes and Marco Melandri, in Race 1 at Donington Park, since it has not yet been possible to ascertain the causes (internal or external to the tyre) that caused the sudden deflation, in the primary interest of the safety of the riders and awaiting further analysis on the tire under investigation, Pirelli and Dorna have therefore agreed to withdraw this tire from the allocation available to the riders. To compensate, Pirelli will provide each driver with an additional tire in the standard SC0 compound (option A), thus increasing the number of tires available in this solution for the Donington Park round from 8 to 9.

A decision that demonstrates the attention of the sole supplier of tires to the safety of the drivers.
We will see what solutions Pirelli will bring to the Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round, scheduled at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from 16 to 18 June.