Tire scare at Phillip Island: a thousand tires airlifted to save testing, but the new spec won’t arrive until Friday

It happened again this time: the cargo ship carrying Pirelli tires for the Superbike World Championship opener will arrive at the port of Melbourne right up against Friday’s practice sessions. So what will they do for the Monday and Tuesday tests?

The issue, as on previous occasions, has been caused by the unforeseen delays faced by cargo ships on routes near the Middle East, due to ongoing geopolitical tensions that show no signs of easing. To allow teams to take part in the eight hours of testing split across four different sessions between Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th of February, a last-minute air freight has been arranged. It contains over a thousand tires, which will be enough to supply all the Superbike and Supersport teams for testing activities. But there’s a catch...

The containers that left Europe weeks ago are traveling by sea, carrying the full allocation for tests, official practice, and races. That includes a new rear solution that riders were supposed to try during testing but will now only be available starting from Friday practice. For the tests, two options are available: the SC1 and the 922, a solution that was already available last year.

The delay of the cargo ship brings two major problems. First, it further complicates the tire situation at Phillip Island, by far the most demanding track on the calendar for tires. The three high-speed sweepers are torture for compounds and carcasses, not just due to exceptional wear but especially because of the internal temperatures that build up and severely stress the tire structure itself. It’s no coincidence that in recent years the long races at this round have been run with a mandatory tire change stop within eleven of the scheduled twenty laps.

But there’s more. Superbike teams and riders arrive in Australia with very few kilometers under their belts, due to bad weather that derailed development plans at both Jerez and Portimão at the end of January. Those who were slightly more fortunate were the ones who, prudently like Yamaha, Bimota, and Honda, also attended the two-day test at the end of last November. The lack of mileage is a problem especially for those who need to get to know a new bike (Petrucci, Dixon, Vierge, to name the most notable), and even more so for those who need to get a feel for bike, tires, and championship all at once, like Miguel Oliveira, BMW’s new addition. There’s also a significant delay for Ducati, which is introducing the new Panigale V4 R with the dual-sided swingarm and a substantial series of updates compared to the previous version.

The snail-paced ships add further uncertainty to an opening round that risks turning into an unpredictable lottery.