After 22 years standing as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship control tyre supplier, Pirelli Motorcycle Racing Director Giorgio Barbier has taken a moment to look back on a wild, decades-long collaboration that completely reshaped the Italian brand.
Back before the 2004 season, teams and manufacturers in WorldSBK could choose their own tyre providers. Even inside Pirelli, folks were asking why they would walk away from fighting rivals directly on track. But Barbier remembers that crucial choice clearly, noting, "In 2003, when we started talking about a control tyre, everyone was against us. Not only from the riders and their teams, but from within Pirelli itself, people said, 'Why do we have to lose the opportunity to compete with our competitors on track?'. It was an important move by Pirelli to start this period working with WorldSBK."
That gamble sparked a massive leap forward in tyre technology, transforming both the brand and the championship. The paddock itself looked totally different back then—riders rolled up in their own vans, electronics and aerodynamics barely registered, and the riders served as the sole bridge connecting engineers to what the rubber was actually doing on the tarmac.
Barbier explains how the operation evolved: "The Championship has changed a lot over these last two decades; we passed from a world in which riders arrived at the paddock in their own vans, and the electronics and aerodynamics weren't very important. Riders were the only guides to give feedback to the engineers. Many riders helped us in our mission to develop our tyres, each in a different way. Some riders gave us a lot of information; others gave us only very fast lap times. This partnership between Pirelli and the Championship was important from the beginning; Pirelli had to produce thousands of tyres for every race. This forced Pirelli to change its approach, both from a prototype and an industrial perspective, largely because of WorldSBK. This Championship gave a new identity to Pirelli's racing program."
As the racing pushed machines faster across premier circuits, everyday motorcycle fans started wanting that same performance for their own track days. That connection between elite rider feedback and ramping factory capabilities eventually birthed compounds like the SCQ and SCX tyres.
Summing up the technical and personal journey, Barbier shared, "There were a few very proud moments over these years collaborating; one of those was when we realised there was a market for the racing tyres. We saw people leaving the road and riding on circuits to prove their own bikes. They showed interest, which led us to develop newer compounds like the SCX or SCQ. Pirelli learned how to produce tyres with a high level of quality, strong performance, and an acceptable price. Being part of WorldSBK has been an incredible experience, not only in terms of professional work, but also as a life experience to meet so many people with the same passions and interests."
