At Misano with the new Pirelli solutions it's a double win for Kawasaki and a new track record set by Tom Sykes

23.06.2014

Using the new Superpole tyre developed by Pirelli the Englishman broke the track record set in 2010 by Troy Corser and won both the Superbike races on the new soft blend rear solution with team mate Loris Baz and Italian Marco Melandri crossing the line behind him.
On the Misano track where the seventh round of the eni FIM World Superbike just ended Pirelli once again made a significant contribution to the show provided by the races as well as the performance displayed by the bikes and riders.
Reigning World Champion Tom Sykes once again stole the show astride his Kawasaki ZX-10R for Kawasaki Racing Team, first taking Superpole on Saturday with a time of 1’34.883, breaking the 1’35.001 track record set by Troy Corser in 2010 by more than 1 tenth of a second, and then winning both races on Sunday, also putting in the fastest lap in Race 1. These results certainly benefited from the contribution of the new tyres developed by Pirelli and introduced for the first time this round. These included the new qualifier tyre used by the riders for Saturday's Superpole which gave Tom Sykes the new track record, as well as the new soft compound rear solution developed ad hoc for the Superbike riders which was quite popular with all the riders in the category.
As for the way the Superbike races played out, the result was the same for Race 1 and Race 2: in both cases the English Kawasaki rider finished on the top step of the podium, followed across the line by team mate Loris Baz and Aprilia rider Marco Melandri. With this double win Tom Sykes, already leader in the rider standings, widens the gap in front of Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, taking his advantage to 39 points over the Aprilia rider and to 41 over team mate Loris Baz. Despite the excellent performance by the Aprilia Racing Team rider from Ravenna, Marco Melandri's gap behind the leader increases to 72 points, making a comeback more difficult. In the Manufacturer championship the double one-two by the Kawasaki riders takes the brand from Akashi to 266 points in the standings with a 22 point advantage over Aprilia and 67 over Honda.
In Supersport it was the second win of the season for Jules Cluzel and his MV Agusta for the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team, followed by the current ranking leader who has won 3 races so far, Dutchman Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), with Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) crossing the line third and also taking the fastest lap to win the Pirelli Best Lap Award.
In the Superstock 1000 class the top step of the podium went to Luca Savadori (Team Pedercini), with second place going to Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Team) and the bottom step for Fabio Massei (EAB Racing Team).
In the FIM Superstock 600 European Championship held on Saturday victory went to Marco Faccani (San Carlo Team Italia) for his third win of the season out of 4 races held and keeping him at the top of the standings. Crossing the finish line behind him was Federico Caricasulo (Evan Bros. Racing Team) and wild card Davide Stirpe (Scuderia Maran.ga. Racing) finishing on the bottom step of the podium.
Comment from Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Director: “We are truly pleased with the results achieved by Pirelli throughout the weekend. Besides the standard tyres, during the season we are always designing some development solutions in order to keep our racing range up to date year after year. In this case here at Misano for Superbike we had a new Superpole tyre and a new rear tyre in a soft blend dedicated exclusively to the Superbike riders. We received our first satisfaction already on Saturday when Tom Sykes used the new Superpole tyre which we developed to break the track record that Troy Corser had set in 2010. In the races today we received the nth confirmation. Both the Superbike and EVO riders used the rear solutions which had been custom developed for their respective categories and we perceive a very important message from this: if new solutions, never before tested by the riders, were the most popular ones and provided the riders with exemplary performance, it means that our development efforts are working well and above all it means that the riders trust us and are ready to try the new solutions that we provide for them. It may seem trite, but this is a relationship of trust that we have been able to build over the years and of which we are particularly proud. I obviously would like to compliment the entyre Kawasaki team and their riders, but also Marco Melandri and Aprilia who put in an excellent performance. My congratulations also to MV Agusta and an excellent performance by Jules Cluzel. We are watching some very heated and open championships where various riders are taking turns on the podium. I think that the great thing about Superbike and the lower classes lies most of all in this fiery and consistent competitiveness between manufacturers and riders.”
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders: In Superbike, for the choice of tyre on the front, in both races the most used solution was once again the S1699 development tyre for this round, chosen by about 2/3 of the riders.
Preference among the other riders more or less split between the standard SC3 and the new SC2 compound T0020 development solution.
On the rear it is worth pointing out just how popular the new solutions developed by Pirelli and never before tested were with the riders. In particular, many of the Superbike riders, especially those in the front rows, opted for the new solution dedicated to them, the T0722, whereas most of the EVO riders chose the R1368, also a custom developed tyre for their class. The remainder of the riders obviously opted for the standard SC0 solution.
In the Supersport category the most used option on the front was the new S1485 development solution, chosen by 15 out of the 25 riders on the starting grid, a clear demonstration of the excellent work Pirelli has done in terms of development for the Supersport riders as well. Of the remaining riders, 6 chose the standard SC1 solution and 4 opted for the standard SC2.
For the rear 19 riders went with the standard SC0 whereas the remaining 6 riders chose the standard SC1 solution.
Pirelli Best Lap Award: The “Pirelli Best Lap Awards” are awarded by Pirelli to the riders who set the fastest race lap in Superbike and Supersport. This prestigious recognition is presented by a Pirelli representative during the Paddock Show in a press conference which follows the podium at the end of the races, for a total of three awards each weekend. The Superbike and Supersport riders who have earned the most “Pirelli Best Lap Award” titles at the end of the season will be elected “Best Lap Winner: fastest rider of the year” and awarded during the end of year ceremony. At the moment Tom Sykes (Kawasaki
Racing Team) leads the Superbike standings with 3 Best Lap Awards. In Supersport Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) is the leader with 2 Best Laps.
These are the riders who won the Pirelli Best Lap Awards at Misano Adriatico:
WSB Gara 1 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1'35.629 (5° giro)
WSB Gara 2 – Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), 1'36.033 (2° giro)
WSS – Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), 1’39.436 (5° giro)
The overall standings after six rounds are as follows:
WSB: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team): 3; Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team): 2; Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team): 2; Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team): 2; Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki): 2; Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team): 2; Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team): 1
The 2014 Pirelli statistics for the Misano round:
Total number of tyres Pirelli brought: 4953
Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 6 front and 7 rear
Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 39 front and 41 rear
Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 4 rear
Number of tyres available for each Supersport rider: 27 front and 23 rear
Temperature in Race 1: air 29° C, asphalt 38° C
Temperature in Race 2: air 28° C, asphalt 44° C
Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLOTM Superbike tyres: 275.9 kms/h, in Race 1 by Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) at 1st lap
Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLOTM Supercorsa tyres in Supersport: 238.9 kms/h, Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) and Kev Coghlan (DMC
Panavto-Yamaha) at 7th and 1st lap.