Rider fully exploits development tyres at Portimão to take pole position and victory

Armed with the combination of standard SC1 front and standard SC0 rear tyres, Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team – Ducati) started from the second spot on the grid and won WorldSSP Race 1 with an advantage of a full 3 seconds ahead of Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati).

The new SC0 rear is wildly popular
 
“We are satisfied with this Saturday in Portimão because we received outstanding feedback on the solutions we brought for this race weekend. From the Friday practice sessions, the riders received the SC0 D0661 specification development solution very well, finding a good feeling with it straight away and, as they gradually gained familiarity and developed their bike setups, it became the favourite solution, chosen unanimously for Race 1. Everyone appreciated the performance of the new structure, which we developed with the goal of increasing stability and resistance to wear for all circuits suited for soft solutions but with delicate conditions, like in the case of Portimão, with its sloping turns and high asphalt temperatures. At the same time, the riders also found a slight increase in grip compared with the standard SC0. As already happened with the SC1 D0286 specification development tyre which we introduced in Most and which was popular straight away, this SC0 D0661 specification solution also represents an evolution of the family it belongs to and, given the encouraging results, we feel confident that we are on the right path, although, as always, we will need confirmation on other circuits. It will be interesting to see whether the first impressions are confirmed tomorrow, as well as seeing what the choices will be for the Superpole Race. Today, the SCX was the obvious choice for qualifying, but given the good performance of the D0661 and considering the high asphalt temperatures, there could very well be some surprises.”

WorldSBK

· Toprak Razgatlioğlu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took pole position using the combination of standard SC1 front and standard SCX rear tyres which Pirelli brought to this race weekend as a solution for qualifying instead of the usual Extra soft SCQ rear. His time of 1’39.783 was extremely close (just two tenths off) to Jonathan Rea’s all-time track record, set in 2022 with asphalt temperature around 10°C lower.
 
· The rear SC0 development tyre in D0661 specification was chosen by everyone in Race 1. For the front, most of the riders went with the SC1 and only the three BMW riders, Toprak Razgatlioğlu, Michael van der Mark, and Scott Redding opted for the SC2, both standard versions.

⁠ WorldSSP

· In qualifying, the current championship leader Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati) came out on top to win pole position ahead of Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team – Ducati), second, and Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), third. All three riders did their respective best times using the standard SC1 front and the standard SC0 rear.

· It was a highly competitive grid for Race 1, with all the riders opting for the standard SC1 front and the standard SC0 rear combination. On the sixth lap, race winner Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team – Ducati) set the new race fast lap record, breaking Stefano Manzi’s 2023 record by almost four tenths of a second. The race was over five and a half seconds faster than last year, with an average improvement per lap of more than three tenths of a second.