Michelin to
Take Over as
WorldSBK
Control Tire
J
ust two days after the end
of the first half of the 2025
WorldSBK season at Misano, of-
ficial confirmation came through
that Pirelli would no longer be
the sole WorldSBK tire sup-
plier from 2027 onwards—and
Michelin would.
After Pirelli was announced as
the MotoGP class tire supplier
some time ago, the possibility of
the Italian brand leaving its now
traditional commercial and tech-
nical racing "home" in WorldSBK
first came into question.
Especially as they are providing
Moto2 and Moto3 tires already.
It seems obvious that Pirelli
would have been happy to stay
in WorldSBK, as well as take
over MotoGP, according to com-
ments made by Pirelli bosses as
late as the Misano round.
The reason why there was no
new Pirelli deal in the works af-
ter 2026 in WorldSBK was soon
made obvious, via a Michelin
press release on Tuesday, June
17.
A five-year sole supplier deal
for all WorldSBK classes (valid
at least until 2031) had already
been agreed upon between
Dorna and Michelin.
We can think of several logi-
cal reasons why. One is to pre-
vent Dorna from having just one
tire company supplying racing
products across what is already
a contentious monopoly of the
WIND
IN THE
P32
two biggest global bike racing
series.
Another reason for this change
could be financial, with Michelin
presumably now paying Dorna
less for WorldSBK tire support
and partnership than they did
when they were the headlining
MotoGP tire suppliers.
So, without needing to hold
onto what one must assume
was money for MotoGP, maybe
Michelin could afford to pay
more than what long-time Super
-
bike supplier and main sponsor
Pirelli had been paying—or would
be willing to pay?
Everything in MotoGP is larger
than in WorldSBK, of course,
and presumably that includes
payments for any participating
company and sponsor.
For Michelin, WorldSBK still
offers a world championship-
level deal, but presumably at
a significantly lower cost. No
details have been (or realistically
will ever be) released on that
front, of course.
Pirelli had many good reasons
to enter MotoGP, first in the
Moto3 and Moto2 classes and
now in MotoGP itself. One rea
-
son was to regain a truly global
