Pirelli focuses on soft rears in Moto2 for undulations of Portimão

• For the Grand Prix of Portugal 2025 the Moto2™ riders will have two rear tyres at their disposal, both in soft compound: the standard SC0 and the E0125 development specification which uses the same compound as the standard solution but applied to a more advanced structure. The latter option has already been brought to 9 GPs this year and, on seven occasions, was present in allocation with the standard SC0, always winning the direct comparison between the two.
 
• For Moto3™, this season’s standard allocation is confirmed, the same already used in 2024 and consisting of soft SC1 and medium SC2 as options for both front and rear in the quantity of 8 units per rider for each compound. In the last edition of the GP, rider preferences for the race were more or less equally divided between the soft SC1 and medium SC2 at the rear, while at the front the medium SC2 was clearly favoured.

• The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve hosts the Portuguese Grand Prix for the sixth time after its debut on the MotoGP calendar in 2020. Except for the first year, in all the other editions the GP was held in the first part of the year. The circuit is known for undulations, fast corners, and blind corners with a gradient of up to 12% downhill and 6% uphill. The mix of long and fast corners, such as the last right-hander, generates high lateral and longitudinal loads on the tyres and the sudden braking downhill particularly engages the front tyres.

Another comparison between the rear softs in view of the 2026 range

“We are now in the final stages of the World Championship and it is important for Pirelli to take stock of the development work carried out during the season, especially with the riders in the Moto2™ class, and then establish whether some of the solutions developed this year will be able to enter the range in 2026 to replace those currently present. This is something we repeat every year and allows us to have an up-to-date range, for the benefit not only of the riders who race in the World Championships but also of those who participate in the various national competitions or of simple amateurs who buy our tyres to ride on the track during track days. Among these solutions there is the soft in specification E0125 which we will compare with the standard SC0 for the seventh time this year, having seen them both in the GPs of Silverstone, Aragon, Assen, Balaton, Barcelona and Lombok and also in some WorldSBK rounds, including the one held in Portimão at the beginning of the season. So far, in all these events, the E0125 has won the comparison with the standard soft and has always been chosen by practically all the riders for the race, therefore, we expect that it will be the most popular option on this occasion as well. At that point, after testing it on circuits with different characteristics, in different weather conditions and with riders and bikes from different championships, we will have enough information to decide whether to promote it to the new standard soft. In 2024, the Portuguese GP was held in March, and all the riders had used the standard SC0 in the race, this year we race at the beginning of November, but the average temperatures of these two months are similar, even if in November the chance of rain is greater.”