News

The Pirelli Portuguese Round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship takes the grid’s riders to the technical and full of thrills Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal. Friday, March 28^th will ring in this weekend’s race action, and in anticipation, Pirelli have unveiled their solutions for the unique challenges posed by Portimao’s ‘rollercoaster’. For the rear, Pirelli will use their new standard SC0 tyre, which will be the softest available for races. For rear tyres in the Tissot Superpole sessions and races, the Supersoft SCX will be available. Across all events, the front tyres available will be the SC1 medium and SC2 hard tyres.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS FROM PIRELLI: soft tyre choices at the rear

The new standard SC0 tyre was initially unveiled as a development option at 2024’s Aragon Round, where it was appreciated by riders. After undergoing further development, the D0640 is now ready to be made the new standard model SC0 tyre. Pirelli’s engineers didn’t call it a day there however and developed a further pair of new tyres. The first is a new development tyre still undergoing fine tuning, a soft rear tyre, dubbed the E0125. This model maintains the same rubber compound found in the new standard SC0 tyre but composes of a different structure, aiming to improve stability and prolonged tyre life. For both the Tissot Superpole and Tissot Superpole Race, riders will be able to use the SCX supersoft tyre; this is the softest tyre available.

FRONT TYRE SELECTION: standard solutions on offer for Portimao in the dry

The options for teams around the paddock are the standard selection of the versatile SC1 medium, and the durable SC2 hard. The SC1 medium was the workhorse of the 2024 season as its adaptability allowed it to be used across different circuits in different temperatures, while the SC2 offers better mechanical resistance and greater protection from wear. In the event of wet weather, there will be two rain front tyres (plus the standard Intermediate) to choose from with the standard SCR1 joined by the development E0158, designed to improve stability in the wet.

WORLD SUPERSPORT’S OPTIONS: standard options all round

For the WorldSSP field, it’s standard solutions for the riders. For the rear of the bikes, they can choose either the SC0 soft or the SC1 medium tyre, with the latter designed to protect against wear more in comparison to the SC0. At the front, it will be either the SC1 medium or the SC2 hard that riders use.

PIRELLI SAYS: “The new D0640 SC0 proved to be an improvement over the previous SC0.”

Discussing the tyre allocations, Pirelli’s Motorcyle Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier, said: "Portimao is a moderately severe track for the tyres, so it is an excellent proving ground to test some new solutions, in Pirelli's classic path of continuous innovation. We decided to promote the D0640 specification to the new rear standard SC0: on its WorldSBK debut at Aragón as a development solution it won the trust of the riders, and then it also collected positive feedback in the winter tests at Jerez and Portimao and in the Moto2™ Championship, both in the two GPs held at Misano and in the pre-season tests at Jerez. Promoting it to a range compound was therefore a natural decision because it proved to be an improvement over the previous SC0. But our development is constantly and continuously evolving: alongside the new SC0, a soft in E0125 specification will make its debut, which features the same compound of the standard SC0 but has a different casing, with the aim of offering greater stability and consistency over race distance. Portimao is a demanding track in terms of abrasiveness for this reason, as in the past, the SCQ usually available for practice, qualifying and Superpole Race will be replaced in this role by the SCX. In case of rain, the WorldSBK riders will have two front wet options, with the new E0158 joining the standard SCR1."

Watch this weekend’s action live or on the go whenever you want with the WorldSBK VideoPass!