The first Italian round of the 2011 World Superbike season coincides with Italy’s celebration of their 150th year of unity. Pirelli will celebrate the historic occasion with a special red, white, and green tire that will be used during the Superpole sessions.
The Pirelli tire will have three stripes along the side, and personalized sidewall labels with the words “150th Italy.” The personalized sidewall labels will also be available via www.pirelli.com for riders who use tires like the Diablo Rosso Coras and the Diablo Rosso II.
The unique Pirelli tire was designed specifically with the Monza circuit in mind. Monza, which is one of the most challenging rounds in the World Superbike series, is full of long straightaways, sharp turns, and intense braking sections. Pirelli has developed a unique tire in order to live up to these strenuous demands.
From a press release:
“These conditions demand unique tires from Pirelli, namely multi-compound rear tyre solutions with more durable center and shoulder areas to manage the lateral forces and guarantee race-distance tire life under these extreme conditions. Three front tires are available: a mid-soft option along with two harder compound tires offering greater braking stability and line-holding consistency in the curves.”
The work that Pirelli has done was evident today when Max Biaggi set a new track record with Pirelli Diablo tires. Biaggi set a new top speed in excess of 205 mph during the first qualifying session today.
“Pirelli worked hard to make available new solutions through its high-level tire development which parallels the competition environment of the World Championship,” said Pirelli Moto’s Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier.
“Whether coloring a qualifying tire or introduce new performance compounds, our goal is always to make for more thrilling and faster racing, demonstrated through overall race time, new lap records and most importantly through reliability of our Diablo Superbike tires on a wide variety of front-running machines. Monza is known worldwide as a circuit of extremes, high heat, fast braking, quick transitions and high speed turns, and the SBK and SSP riders of the World Championship will be able make the most of the excellent performance of our tires have unique characteristics.”
