The magnificent high-speed motorsports theatre of Monza featured the fourth round of the World Championships, with Pirelli as the exclusive tyre supplier. Honda proved the first manufacturer to break a run of straight Suzuki wins, taking race two, shortly after Suzuki made it seven in a row in race one.

In regular qualifying the fastest laps set by the 2005 riders were 1.1 seconds faster than the fastest laps of the 2004 season, when Pirelli first took over as the single tyre supplier to the series.

Race 1
TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 21%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 37° AIR TEMPERATURE 23°

The first 18-lap race of the day was a fraught affair for the eventual winner Troy Corser (Suzuki), being hunted from behind by his own team-mate Yukio Kagayama and eventual third place man James Toseeland (Ducati) Toseland’s return to form and his team-mate Regis Laconi’s fourth place demonstrated that the Pirelli tyres once more gave equal performance to riders of twin and four-cylinder machines. With five different manufacturers in the top eight, proof came early that Pirelli had delivered tyres which riders of all types of machine could use around the high-speed Monza circuit. The average lap time of the riders was 0.8 quicker than 2004.

Race 2
TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 20%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 47° AIR TEMPERATURE 26°

The second race was interrupted just before the start and thus was one lap shorter than race one, to allow for an extra sighting lap. The 17-lap event was won by Chris Vermeulen (Honda) who secured his win only after a last-lap overtake on long time leader Regis Laconi. It was Honda’s first race win of the year, and the first non-Suzuki win of 2005. Of particular importance was the fact that in his pursuit of Laconi, Vermeulen set the fastest lap of the race on lap 14, meaning that the tyres were still working well in hot conditions, of 47°C track temperatures. In third place, Corser extended his championship lead, after his team-mate Kagayama crashed out.
For the rears the riders used largely the same tyres, but the riders from each manufacturer used different front solutions. Inside the same team the riders invariably use the same front tyres as each other. This is an indication of how Pirelli can make tyres for all bikes, and once a rider knows that a particular front matches up to his bike’s characteristics, that becomes his favourite front tyre.
Pirelli brough five different specs of rear tyre for the Superbike class, up from the normal three (or sometimes four, if a special tyre is available for certain track conditions). The riders tried to use as many types as possible and this gave Pirelli good data to analyse after the event.

TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 20%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 45° AIR TEMPERATURE 25°

In a thrilling Supersport race three riders looked to be in with the chance of the ultimate race win, but in the final laps it was a battle between the Ten Kate Hondas of Katsuaki Fujiwara and Sebastien Charpentier. Fujiwara would win, praising the performance of his tyres, with Gianluca Nannelli’s Ducati third. Team Italia Honda rider Michel Fabrizio fought through to fourth, with the first Yamaha that of Kevin Curtain in fifth.

Pirelli Racing Manager, Giorgio Barbier, stated, “It was also a great day for us in Superpsort as the riders proved to be very happy with the solutions we had available to them. There was a real threat from Ducati to win the race, with a completely different type of engine from the Hondas.”