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As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship gets set for a visit to the Circuito Estoril for the penultimate round of the season, Pirelli have announced their solutions for the weekend. Teams and riders will have plenty of options during the Estoril Round, with the SCQ tyre back in the allocation and two SCX solutions available. At the front, the Italian company have opted for standard solutions all round.

REAR SOLUTIONS: soft allocation, SCQ is back

Pirelli opted not to bring the SCQ tyre to MotorLand Aragon after its resurfacing, but the tyre will be back for the Estoril Round, with its use limited to the Tissot Superpole session and Tissot Superpole Race. The SCX tyre is available, this time for use in all races, in two forms: the standard SCX solution and the SCX-A, which is a development solution designed to offer greater wear resistance with a new compound but maintain the same grip level as the standard option. The SC0 soft compound is the final tyre in the allocation. In the event of rain, the standard intermediate and rain tyres can be used.

FRONT CHOICES: standard solutions for every tyre

The front tyre choice will come from the standard Pirelli tyres that are on offer. The SC1 medium tyre is the softest available and is joined by the SC2 hard as Pirelli opt for their standard front options during the visit to Portugal. Should it rain, like for the rear choices, riders and teams will be able to select from the standard intermediate and rain tyres.

WORLD SUPERSPORT OPTIONS: four standard tyres

In WorldSSP, four standard solutions are available to choose from in the slick tyre range. At the front, the SC1 soft compound and the SC2 medium compound are the options, while it’s the SCX super soft and SC0 soft for rear tyre choices. If it rains, the options are once again from the standard tyres for both the front and rear: in both cases, it’s the standard rain tyre available with no intermediate option.

PIRELLI SAYS: “All our range solutions have already proven to be suitable for different situations… the SCX D0820 specification has proven to be a valid evolution”

Explaining the allocation, Pirelli’s Motorcycle Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier, said: “We've been racing WorldSBK at Estoril for several years now, so we can say that we know the characteristics of this circuit very well, also because the asphalt has been the same since 2006, so we have a very solid history of information and data. The layout is very varied, and the surface often changes, in terms of perceived feeling, between corners, which is why it is quite demanding for the tyres that are subjected to high stress. The track is quite slippery, so you need to use soft compounds that can generate more grip, as well as compensate more quickly for the temperature differences between the right and left sidewalls, which are typical of Estoril. All our range solutions have already proven this year to be suitable for different situations and the development SCX in D0820 specification has also proven to be a very valid evolution. Already in its first appearance at Magny-Cours it gave a very positive response and was then widely used in Cremona, so we believe it is an excellent option for this round as well, given its new compound that maintains the grip levels of the standard SCX while being more protected in terms of wear. It will therefore be interesting for us to evaluate its performance even on this rather demanding track, so as to gather further useful information from a development perspective."

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