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No one wants a tyre war anymore, in the top motorcycle racing and car racing championships, and it's nice to remember that the first championship to embrace the single-tyre philosophy was Superbike, thanks to Maurizio Flammini's futuristic vision.
It was 2004 when the collaboration was signed. But the Italian company collaborated with Cagiva – the rider was Randy Mamola - already in 1988. So, it's a comeback. Pirelli therefore celebrates twenty years as sole supplier of tyres for all classes of the Superbike World Championship.
An exclusive collaboration that has allowed the development of the Diablo Superbike and Diablo Supercorsa range. 1,105 races have been run with these tyres, for a total of 18,891 laps and 2.9 million kilometres covered in the race, equal to almost eight times the distance that separates the Earth from the Moon.
Riders who have made Superbike history have participated in the creation of these tyres, of which eleven with Pirelli have won at least one world title in the premier class: James Toseland, Troy Corser, Troy Bayliss, Ben Spies, Max Biaggi, Carlos Checa, Tom Sykes, Sylvain Guintoli, Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and reigning world champion Álvaro Bautista.
An honest tradition of glory that now takes the place of Dunlop, which dominated the world championship in the ‘60s and ‘70s with its legendary Dunlop 'triangular', KR 73, KR 76, KR 83 the so-called 'pear' tyres due to their unique shape created to offer maximum grip in bends (maximum 45°!) with minimum friction surface in a straight line.
Dunlop has been the sole supplier to the 250cc Moto3 four-stroke class since 2012 and the 765cc Moto2 World Championship since its inception in 2010.
In the quarter-litre class alone, the tyre manufacturer, founded in 1888, has picked up 17 world championship titles. Currently Dunlop, present in the Grand Prix paddock since 1949, is also a tyre supplier in the junior series "Road to MotoGP" Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup, Honda British Talent Cup and Northern Talent Cup. And from this year it is also the sole supplier in CIV, while Pirelli has taken control of the National, an apparently less important series than the Italian one which however totals a greater number of entries.
But is it true that this sudden interest by Pirelli in the cadet classes of the world championship is due to a cooling of interest in Formula 1?
The situation is not entirely clear: Pirelli took over from Bridgestone in F1 in 2011 and is also the sole supplier of the World Rally Championship, as well as the MXGP and MX2 motocross world championships. Pirelli was present in Formula 1 from 1950 to 1958, then from 1981 to 1986, from 1989 to 1991 and now continuously since 2011.
Currently, however, its two-wheel division can stand on its own two feet and is independent in its strategic choices.
However, it is also true that in the premier motor racing formula it now faces stiff competition from Bridgestone in the tender to become sole supplier for 2025.
It is difficult to say what interest Pirelli has in a championship in which there are only two manufacturers left, Kalex and Boscoscuro, because companies such as Suter, NTS, TSR, KTM and MV Agusta have all pulled out.
However, it is true that recently the two-wheel market has been moving towards less demanding cylinder sizes. And the interest from manufacturers, such as Aprilia with its 660 Extrema and Yamaha with the new R7, bear witness to this.
For the moment, however, there is no movement regarding the premier class given that Michelin, which took over from Bridgestone in 2016, has an agreement with Dorna that expires in 2026, just on the eve of the expected revision of the MotoGP technical regulations.
