VANCES ITH WorldSBK
products. They can be bought by members of the public for track use as a slick- or as an equivalent DOT approved road legal product.
Throughout Pirelli’ s long and continuing WorldSBK partnership there have been both evolutions and true step-changes. Given that the performance of each manufacturer’ s flagship Superbike and Supersport models increases over time, Pirelli is always aiming to provide not just higher performance but greater durability and a wider window of usability for each new solution.
Central to this desire for improvement in recent times has been a series of tyre designs that were initially aimed at either qualifying sessions or the‘ sprint’ races. These options have- at some tracks- now been successfully raced beyond their original design briefs. Once the teams have experience of a new tyre design Pirelli works in partnership with them to find an overall set-up to make- for example- an SCQ( qualifying) tyre take on a real ten-lap race. Or let an SCX( originally designed for just ten laps) hold its competitive pace right to the end of 20 + laps.
So successful has Pirelli’ s single make WorldSBK partnership been that single supplier tyre championships are the norm in 2026, not the exception. One-by-one several championships adopted Pirelli as their chosen single make tyre supplier. Most recently and significantly that has included the Moto2™ and Moto3™ classes inside MotoGP™. Records have been consistently broken in these two important categories, even in the first year of Pirelli’ s involvement. Maybe the biggest surprise for some is that Pirelli refuses to opt for specialised or exotic materials during the manufacturing process for its WorldSBK tyres. Even the most advanced Pirelli race tyres that are proven in WorldSBK before being offered for sale to track day riders and racers alike, are made from entirely conventional and readily available components. This makes their well-proven capabilities over the widest possible spectrum of pure performance all the more remarkable. In 2026 Pirelli continues its mutually beneficial partnership with WorldSBK, aiming to not just meet but exceed the demands of all the competing manufacturers and teams.
49