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As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship paddock heads to the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” for the 2023 Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round and it marks a special occasion for tyre supplier Pirelli: they will mark their first home round of the season with celebrations to mark the 20^th anniversary as the Official Tyre Supplier of WorldSBK with a host of activities planned to mark the anniversary, while, on-track, there will be a new SCQ tyre that debuts during the Emilia-Romagna Round.

20^TH ANNIVERSARY: a milestone reached for WorldSBK and Pirelli

Pirelli and WorldSBK have been working in partnership for 20 seasons with Pirelli becoming the Official Tyre Supplier for the 2004 season and the partnership has been ongoing ever since. The agreement was recently extended up to and including the 2026 campaign to take the collaboration even further and, to mark the historic milestone, Pirelli will celebrate at Misano as the first visit to Italy in the 2023 season. During their time in WorldSBK so far, Pirelli have racked up 537 wins in 719 races which includes races before the 2004 campaign.

ON-TRACK TYRES: a new SCQ debuts in WorldSBK

With WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 on track at Misano, Pirelli have revealed their tyre solutions for the Emilia-Romagna Round. In WorldSBK, the headline is the introduction of a new SCQ tyre, named the SCQ-A, and it features a new structure and compound when compared to the standard SCQ. The aim is to add consistency over a 10-lap distance for the Tissot Superpole Race. Other rear tyres available are the standard super soft SCX, the super soft SCX-A B0800 specification and the standard soft SC0 tyre. The recently introduced development front SC0 soft compound, continuing its development ahead of a planned introduction as a standard solution next season, is back for Misano, joined by the standard SC1 medium and standard SC2 hard compounds. In the event of rain, riders will be able to choose standard intermediate and rain tyres at both the front and rear.

OTHER NEWS FROM PIRELLI: WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 solutions

In WorldSSP, the testing of the WorldSBK-size SC1-A front medium tyre continues, and this will be available to the field in Italy as well as the standard soft SC1 tyre at the front of the bike. At the rear, the riders will be able to choose from the SC0 soft and the SCX super soft tyre, both standard solutions, to use throughout the weekend. As ever, the front and rear both feature intermediate and rain tyres in case it rains. There are changes in WorldSSP300 who, starting from Misano, will have development SC1 front solutions and development SC2 solutions.

PIRELLI SAYS: explaining the choices

Discussing the tyre solutions for Misano, Pirelli’s Motorcycle Racing Director Giorgio Barbier said: “In the first rounds of the season, both in WorldSBK and WorldSSP, we concentrated our development activity on the front range, with the introduction of the soft SC0 for the riders of the premier class and with the comparison between the standard and the larger sizes in Supersport. This work will also continue at Misano but now it's time to focus on the rears as well, in particular on the SCQ solution. The current standard extra soft guarantees a very good peak performance and therefore it perfectly fulfils its role as a qualifier tyre. The goal we have set ourselves is to allow it to be used also in the Superpole Race, which in some cases already happens. With the new development solution, we want to guarantee this tyre a greater performance consistency and therefore a higher mileage so as to make it a key choice for the 10 laps of the short race on all circuits. In WorldSSP300 we have decided to introduce a new development set that uses some innovative materials.”

Watch all the action from the Emilia-Romagna Round using the WorldSBK VideoPass!