PIRELLI HONOURS ITALY’S 150 YEARS OF UNITY WITH TRICOLORE DIABLO SUPERBIKE TYRES FOR MONZA WSBK Coloured stripes and sidewall labels identify Superpole tyres dedicated to Italy’s national unification, a date just one decade before Pirelli’s own founding Monza(Italy), May 6th 2011 The first Italian round of the 2011 World Superbike season and the season’s home race for Pirelli Moto at the historic Autodromo Nazionale Monza occurs as Italy celebrates its 150th anniversary of unity. To honour this occasion, the Diablo Superbike qualifying tyres used during the Superpole sessions at this weekend’s race will feature three stripes coloured green, white and red along with personalized sidewall labels with the words “150th Italy” as symbols of this Italian unity. These stripes and tyre labels will be used to identify the Diablo Superbike qualifiers, new for 2011 and also for the Monza racetrack, from the available race tyre solutions. The personalized sidewall labels are an optional feature of Pirelli’s Rosso Generation, available via www.pirelli.com and applicable to the WSBK technology-filled tyres such as the Diablo Rosso Corsa and more recently introduced Diablo Rosso II. Monza is among the most challenging circuits of the World Championship, with its Curva Parabolica and Curva Biassono high-speed turns, and intense braking sections through Variante Ascari and even moreso at end of the main straight. These conditions demand unique tyres from Pirelli, namely multi-compound rear tyre solutions with more durable centre and shoulder areas to manage the lateral forces and guarantee race-distance tyre life under these extreme conditions. Three front tyres are available: a mid-soft option along with two harder compound tyres offering greater braking stability and line-holding consistency in the curves. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) registered a new Best Lap during last year’s event with a lap time 1m42.12s during which he exceeded 330 km/h on the main straight, the fastest top speed for a World Superbike machine around the Monza circuit since the series first raced here in 1990. Like all the 20 Superpole participants, Biaggi set this fast time on Diablo Superbike qualifying tyres, last year designated by yellow Pirelli markings. Pirelli Moto’s Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier added: “The first three races of the 2011 season left many obstacles for our tyre development, namely the humidity in Australia and unfavorably cold conditions in England. Pirelli worked hard to made available new solutions through its high-level tyre development which parallels the competition environment of the World Championship. Whether colouring a qualifying tyre or introduce new performance compounds, our goal is always to make for more thrilling and faster racing, demonstrated through overall race time, new lap records and most importantly through reliability of our Diablo Superbike tyres on a wide variety of front-running machines. Monza is known worldwide as a circuit of extremes, high heat, fast braking, quick transitions and high speed turns, and the SBK and SSP riders of the World Championship will be able make the most of the excellent performance of our tyres have unique characteristics.”