Successful season for Pirelli in Italian motorcycle competitions

With today's conclusion of the Italian Speed ​​Championship on the Vallelunga circuit, Pirelli is celebrating a 2012 season full of satisfactions and successes in Italian motorcycle competitions.

At the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli already graduated at the end of July and one race before the end of the Pirelli Championship Italian champion in the CIV Superbike class for the seventh consecutive year thanks to the excellent performances of the driver from the Marche region Matteo Baiocco riding the Ducati 1198 RS of Racing Team Barni rubberized with high-performance ones Pirelli Diablo Superbike who have always proven to be reliable and able to accompany the rider to world championship success.

The performance of teammate Luca Conforti was also excellent and at the end of the championship he could boast a commendable third place in the general classification with a gap of only 21 points from second.

For the entire season Matteo Baiocco, his second consecutive title this year, dominated the Superbike races, almost always finishing on the podium, this is proof of the consistency of his performances and that of the Pirelli Diablo Superbike tyres, closing the season with good results. 65 points ahead of the second in the standings. In this last race Baiocco was able to use the new 17-inch Diablo Superbike tires which will be adopted next year by the Superbike World Championship riders and which gave him an edge over Fabrizio Lai on Michelin and Ivan Clementi on Dunlop . The top of national motorcycling therefore confirms this year too as the exclusive territory of Pirelli which, once again, demonstrates its clear superiority even in the non-single tire championships compared to the other tire manufacturers who participate in the Championship every year trying to win the title.

However, the commitment that saw Pirelli involved as the sole supplier of the Stock 1000 and Stock 600 National Championships was different. For these competitions Pirelli focused on Diablo Supercorsa tires in the SC1 and SC2 compounds and in the 200/55 rear sizes for the Stock 1000 and 180/60 for the Stock 600, guaranteeing 10 tires in each round for each driver in the first case and 8 in the second. All this clearly translates into an enormous logistical effort put in place by Pirelli which used 2500 trucks to move a quantity of tires equal to approximately 4 tires per round.

Although the philosophy behind the single-tyre championships is different from that of the open championships, Pirelli's competitive spirit has not changed: in this case the objective was not to beat the competition but to contain costs by placing all the drivers, regardless of the budgets and the prestige of the team they belong to, in equal conditions to compete while at the same time maintaining a high level of competitiveness and guaranteeing entertainment and entertainment for the spectators and the drivers themselves. This objective was definitely achieved since both championships were decided in the last race held today at the Vallelunga racetrack where, after eight rounds, Riccardo Russo of Team Italia FMI were able to raise the Italian Champions Cup to the sky in the Stock 600 Championship and Ivan Goi and Team Barni in the Stock 1000 class.

“We are naturally very satisfied with the result of this season which saw us confirm the title of Italian Champions in the premier class of the CIV and our leadership of ultra-performance also in the open championships in a market, the Italian one, which at European Championship proves to be one of the most coveted and prestigious to win. With this latest success we have thus further extended that series of victories which year after year adds prestige to our brand" said Pietro Delle Cave, Italian Market Director, at the end of the Championship,“If in Superbike we were capable of this result, the credit must naturally be shared with Team Barni and its two riders, who immediately found the right harmony with our product. As is now known, from next year there will be important changes, the Superbike will move to the 17" size and the advantage we have proven to have in recent years with the 16,5" slick tires will be completely brought back into play. We are ready to start this new challenge with the same competitive spirit and the same desire to win and the objective can only be to extend our winning streak. A different but no less demanding challenge is that which saw us as sole suppliers of the two Stock 600 and Stock 1000 classes where once again the result is a victory, this time to be shared first of all with the Federation which believed in us and with which we gave birth to two championships of great competitiveness and entertainment"

The last round of the Italian Speed ​​Championship also marked the debut of the electric GP e-xxx, the prototype of the racing E-Moto created by the non-profit association Aecivitas in collaboration with FMI (Italian Motorcycle Federation) and exhibited for the entire weekend in the Pirelli VIP Village. Today the e-xxx it led the way in the last round of the CIV Superbike, obviously equipped with Diablo Supercorsa tires in the front sizes 120/70 ZR 17 and rear 140/60 ZR 17.

Il E-Uno project aims to create fast and reliable motorcycles that make it possible to spread E-Race technology in alternative environments and tracks. The objective is to convey the advantages of "zero emissions" mobility to the general public, and not just to "traditional" motorcycling enthusiasts. Pirelli, always attentive to the technologies of the future and to the development of increasingly high-performance and innovative products, embraced this initiative immediately and offered its enthusiastic technical partnership to the E-Uno project even before the e-xxx motorcycle was created .