The new Pirelli Diablo Superbikes in SC3 compound debut at Assen

Pirelli – Next weekend "The Cathedral" of motorcycling, as the TT Circuit Assen has long been nicknamed, is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship on the track located approximately 200 km north-east of Amsterdam. In the fourth round of the 2016 season, Pirelli, for the first time, will make the new SC3 range front solution available to the SBK class riders, which is by far the hardest option in the Diablo Superbike line and is an absolute novelty for 2016.

The new SC3 solution, available in the range for both the front and rear, is the most robust among those present and was developed by the long P brand thanks to the experience acquired over the years with participation in the FIM World Championship Endurance and numerous victories in competitions such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Bol d'Or. It is therefore a solution that was created above all to be used during endurance races or in all those cases where high resistance and a longer performance duration than those that other compounds are able to guarantee are required.. At the front, the SC3 proves versatile and offers constant performance. Specifically, compared to an SC1, it guarantees greater mileage but at the expense of grip and contact feeling, while when compared to the SC2 it continues to offer greater mileage but, on the other hand, less driving precision.

The tires at Assen are not very stressed from a thermal point of view, but they are still called upon to provide great precision and a lot of directional stability to the rider. Furthermore, the weather is certainly a factor not to be underestimated: in the month of April it is not difficult to encounter variable conditions and even rather cold temperatures. The asphalt of this circuit has a rather high bituminous percentage and has a strong dependence between the aggressiveness of the track and the external temperature, therefore with low temperatures, the rear solutions may suffer from tearing problems, in particular if soft and when the track still has little rubber, as usually happens on Friday. In addition to dry tyres, all classes of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship have Diablo Rain wet tires and intermediate Diablo Wet tires available in case of adverse weather conditions. As for the dry solutions in the SBK class, they consist of standard Diablo Superbike slick tires which, in some cases, are accompanied by development solutions. For the Assen round, the riders will have four front and four rear solutions available, in addition to the rear qualifying tire which can only be used by the riders entering the second Superpole session on Saturday. At the front there will be two development solutions and two standard ones available to riders.