This is a press release from Pirelli…
Melbourne, Australia (March 12, 2015) – A few hours before the start of the Formula One season in which Pirelli is Official Tire Supplier, the Italian tire company held a Motosport press conference in Melbourne, Australia to explain its commitment in four- and two-wheel racing activity and to illustrate the international and national competitions which Pirelli will participate in the 2015 season.
Regarding the 2015 motorcycle competition, Pirelli is engaged in various international and national championships, both on track and off-road, reflecting the strong sporting DNA that historically characterizes the Italian tire brand.
In two-wheel competition, Pirelli’s season kicked off on January 3 in Anaheim, California with the first event on the calendar of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross a FIM World Championship, and continued over the weekend of February 20 to 22 with the season debut at Phillip Island, Australia, of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, followed by the first two rounds of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Qatar on February 28 and in Thailand last weekend.
This year, the Italian tire company will follow, in some cases as Sole Official Tire Supplier and others in open-tire competition, some of the most relevant motorcycle events at international and national level. These include the eni FIM Superbike World Championship, the FIM Motocross World Championship, the FIM Endurance World Championship, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross an FIM World Championship, the MCE British Superbike Championship, the Italian Championship, the IDM German Championship and the French Superbike Championship, to name a few.
The strong commitment of the brand in the International and local competitions is justified not just by the important results in terms of media exposure and increased brand awareness, but also from the technological point of view: Pirelli competitions are, in fact, an open-air laboratory for developing and testing its tires with some of the best riders in circulation, the same tires that are then put on the market and made available to all riders in the world.
eni FIM Superbike World Championship
The eni FIM Superbike World Championship is the most important example of how racing activity provides the Italian tire brand a privileged platform for research and development. Pirelli is the Sole Official Tire Supplier for all classes of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship since 2004, and, thanks to the renewal agreement signed last September with Dorna, the promoter of the Championship, it will be until 2018. Pirelli has been present in factory-derivative racing right from the start of the Championship at the end of the 1980s, and with the 2015 season, it makes 12 consecutive years that the Milanese company has been sole supplier of tires. This is a unique situation that gives the brand the record of longest-running, and consequently the most successful control-tire supplier in the history of motorsports at the international level.
This was made possible thanks first of all to the collaborative and constructive approach that Pirelli has always had with Dorna, the International Motorcycling Federation, and with all the teams and riders, but also because of the constant development work carried out during these years. Unlike other championships in which prototype tires are used, the philosophy of Pirelli since the beginning has been to design, with the help of riders, racing products which could also be used by all motorcyclists. Hence, the now famous motto “We sell what we race, we race what we sell” and the birth of the Diablo™ range with historic tires as the Diablo™ Superbike, used in the premier class, and the Diablo™ Supercorsa SC, used in Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600 and European Junior Cup, which have for years been the undisputed market leaders.
FIM Motocross World Championship
From the track to off-road, the dedication and the working methods of Pirelli do not change: the Italian tire company is one of the Official Supplier of tires for the FIM Motocross World Championship, promoted by Youthstream, and can boast a record of 62 world titles. These titles have been obtained with strict standards for the products on sale in the market, such as the Scorpion MX™ lineup, which include the winning Scorpion™ MX32™ that has outperformed the competition and are most appreciated by the off-road-enthusiast riders.
This year the Scorpion™ MX tires will support many of the participant riders, including the eight-time World Champion Tony Cairoli, two-time MX2 Champion Jeffrey Herlings, Clement Desalle, Jordi Tixier, Tommy Searle, Jeremy Van Horebeek and many others.
The international successes have also forged the trail for local victories, like that of Matt Moss, who on Pirelli tires won the Australian Motocross MX1 Championship two consecutive years.
FIM Endurance World Championship
Also this year, Pirelli will take part in the FIM Endurance World Championship. The series kicks off on April 18 in France at the historic circuit of Magny-Cours with the 24 Hours of Le Mans Moto, which was won by riders using Pirellis four times in the last five years.
July 26 will bring the 8 Hours of Suzuka in Japan, and the 8 Hours of Oscherleben in Germany is scheduled for August 22. The 2015 Championship wraps up at the fascinating circuit of Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France on September 19-20 at the 24 Hours of Bol D’Or at which Pirelli has ruled without interruption in the last three editions.
Pirelli will support both Kawasaki SRC and Monster Energy Yamaha YART (Yamaha Austria Racing Team).
Monster Energy AMA Supercross an FIM World Championship
Pirelli is also the official motorcycle-tire sponsor for 2014-16 of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross, a FIM World Championship, as well as the official tire supplier for the riders Chad Reed, Andrew Short, Justin Barcia, Josh Grant, Weston Peick, Brett Metcalfe and Phillip Nicoletti.
In the discipline of Supercross, Pirelli also won the Australian Supercross Championship with Motul Suzuki rider, Matt Moss in the last two seasons.
Pirelli Control Tire National Championships
There are many activities, both control tire and open tire, that see Pirelli also involved at the local level. First, the MCE British Superbike Championship of which Pirelli is Sole Tire Supplier for all classes since 2008, Ducati 848 TriOptions Cup included. The riders of the British National Championship will be on track for the first round at Donington Park on April 4-6.
Pirelli is also confirmed in the role of Sole Tire Supplier in the Supersport class of the Italian Championship (CIV), in the Pirelli Superbike 600 of the French Superbike, in the Brazilian Superbike Series, South African Stock Cup 1000, in the Superbike Series of Malaysia and Philippines, the R125 Cup in Holland and the 250 Taiwanese Cup, just to name a few.
Open Tire National Championships
The Italian tire company is not afraid of the competition, and, over the years, has also been successful in Open Tire national championships. Among the main local competitions in which it participates are the IDM (German National Championship), the France Superbike FSBK (French National Championship), the CIV (Italian Championship), in addition to the Belgian, Czech, Polish, Austrian, Cypriot, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian and New Zealand Championships. Pirelli is also present in the Alpe Adria and the East European Championships. Pirelli has won 24 titles in total last season in Open Tire national championships in Superbike, Supersport and Superstock classes.
European Pedigree, with an Eye Toward the East
Pirelli is an Italian brand with strong roots in Europe, but it has always pursued a policy of growth and development at the international level, which has led it to be present in 160 countries with nearly 40,000 employees. With this in mind, and, considering the international economic scenario, the Asia Pacific area has become a more important market.
This explains why, with regard to moto activity, the presence in the local racing activities is more important than ever: in addition to the aforementioned Australian Championships SX1 Supercross and MX1 Motocross that Pirelli dominated for two consecutive years, Pirelli will still be engaged as Official Unique Supplier for the Superbike Series in Malaysia and the Philippines.
Not only that, thanks to the constant dialogue with Dorna, for the second year the brand will be the Main Event Sponsor of the Malaysian round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship and, for the first time, the Championship will arrive in Thailand, the country in which Pirelli will also race with the FIM Motocross World Championship. In Japan, Pirelli will create the Pirelli Cup 600 Challenge Series to promote the growth of the young talents of the Japanese motorcycling.
From a commercial and distribution point of view, after the opening a plant in 2012 for the production of motorcycle tires in China, in the industrial district of Yanzhou, Pirelli plans to open its fourth motorcycle-tire production plant in Indonesia, following an agreement signed in Jakarta with the company Pt Astra Otoparts. The new plant at full capacity, expected in 2016, will contribute with worldwide motorcycle tire production of Pirelli with about 7 million pieces.
Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Activities Director:
“Our philosophy has always been to work constructively with both the promoters of the championships we take part in as well as the teams and riders. This approach allowed us to be, in some respects, precursors in the two wheels world. Firstly, for instance, we have believed in the formula of the control tire as we first adopted in competition 17-inch tires instead of the more common 16.5-inch ones, to remain faithful to our selling proposition, which considers also in the competitions the use of standard tires purchasable by any motorcyclist in the market. Again for the approach and involvement of the end user, this year on over half of the Superbike World Championship circuits we will organize the Pirelli SBK Track Days, which are track days for riders who love our brand, that will take place the following Monday after the Superbike competitions. Riders can choose to feel for a day as the champions of the World in an International motorcycle series and ride in those circuits where every weekend they see their heroes competing.”