Next weekend the Donington Park Circuit will host the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship for the 26th time in its history.For this round, Pirelli aims to verify and consolidate the results obtained with the development solutions already seen in action in the first half of the season. Specifically, all the rear solutions will be in soft compound.The WorldSBK Championship riders will therefore also be able to count for this round on the new 125/70 front and 200/65 rear sizes, while in the WorldSSP class the standard solution in 180/60 size will once again be compared with the larger solution in 190/60 size.
Donington Park Circuit, built in 1931, is located in the East Midlands near Sherwood Forest, and is 4023 metres long, with 7 right and 5 left hand turns and has a maximum gradient of 8% slope. The radius of the curve goes from a minimum of 24 metres to a maximum of 333 metres. The circuit direction is clockwise and the rider in pole position starts on the left. This track alternates between fast flowing ‘up and down’ sections (eg Hollywood) to slower parts with curves interrupted by short straights that force braking and sudden acceleration like the Melbourne Hairpin (curve 10).The exit of Turn 8, known as Coppice, sees the highest acceleration out of any corner. In the two medium length turns, Old Hairpin and MacLeans Corner, which interrupt the straight opposite the finish line, riders never drop below 100 Kms/h and can gain considerable time by keeping up their corner speed. As for the tyre choice, for the front it is better to focus on a more rigid solution that manages to keep its shape as much as possible and guarantee the support and stability necessary to manage downhill turns. At the rear, on the other hand, the soft solutions are optimal because, especially with higher temperatures, the track generally offers little grip and a soft tyre can therefore guarantee more precise trajectories.
The solutions for the WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes
Pirelli arrives at the British circuit with 3336 tyres to meet the needs of all three Championship classes both in the event of a dry race as well as in the case of adverse weather conditions.
In the WorldSBK category, the tyres in the 125/70 front and 200/65 rear sizes are confirmed. In total the slick solutions available to the riders will be seven, three front and four rear.For the front, Pirelli confirms the three solutions already used in Aragón, Assen, Imola, Jerez and Misano: the standard SC1 125/70 in a soft compound and the development SC2 X1071 and X1118 in medium compound.There are two rear race options: the standard SC0 200/65 and the development Y0446, which uses the same structure as the standard SC0 but contains a compound more oriented to performance in the event of particularly high asphalt temperatures. In addition to the two racing solutions, Pirelli confirms the SCX in specification Y0447 as a pre-qualifier tyre and possibly as an alternative for the Tissot Superpole® Race and the supersoft solution from Superpole® in the X0684 specification.
In the WorldSSP class there are two front and two rear solutions available to the riders. At the front, as in Aragón, Assen, Imola, Jerez and Misano, the standard SC1 and SC2 will return to the scene. At the rear, the standard SC0 in standard 180/60 size will be joined by the development SC0 Y0410 in the bigger size 190/60which debuted in Misano.
The 2018 Pirelli statistics for Donington
• Total number of tyres brought by Pirelli: 4909
• Number of solutions (including dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 5 front and 8 rear
• Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 34 front and 46 rear
• Number of solutions for the WorldSSP class (including dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 5 rear
• Number of tyres available for each WorldSSP rider: 27 front and 25 rear
• WorldSBK Best Lap Awards both won by: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)in 1'27.974 (Race 1, 18th lap) and in 1'27.983 (Race 2, 9th lap)
• WorldSSP Best Lap Award won by: Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing), in 1'30.913 at the 2nd lap
• Temperature in Race 1: air 18° C, asphalt 31° C
• Temperature in Race 2: air 23° C, asphalt 41° C
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 275 km/h, in Race 2 by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) at the 2nd lap
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC tyres in WorldSSP race: 248.3 km/h, by Jules Cluzel (NRT) at the 19th lap.
Source - Press.Pirelli.com