A classic Italian weekend started on Thursday 8th May with a press conference, held at the Castello della Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, inside Pirelli’s headquarters in Milan. Many riders from the different classes participated, along with Pirelli and FGSport top-level management. Fanatics around the world watched it live, on the pirellityre.com website. On the racing stage, Pirelli fulfilled its promises by bringing a range of excellent tyres, both in SBK and WSS classes; thus Parkes and Bayliss made new track records at Monza. In SBK, Neukirchner was fast from Friday and ended Superpole in 2nd position, behind Bayliss, and clearly aiming to take his first ever SBK victory at the legendary Monza.