MAG

agen

ce c

ha

michelin

#10

MotoGP

oot

TM

A third win for V

iñales

contents

3 - foreword

4/5 - overview Jerez & Le mans

6 - Readily available on-screen information

7 - Zarco goes from strength-to-strength

8 - Getting to grips with a new track surface

9 - A new front tyre for Mugello

10 - Lorenzo’s first podium for Ducati

11 - Wet-weather tyres put to the test

12 - Farewell champion

13 - Nicolas Goubert says...

The start of the Europeanleg of the 2017 campaigntook the MotoGPTM prota-gonists to Jerez and Le Mans, against the back-drop of an intenseYamaha/Honda duel thathad been brewing sincethe beginning of theseason. That theme verymuch continued in Spainand France, with Hondadominating at Jerezbefore Yamaha foughtback at Le Mans…

foreword

Three out of five for Maverick

This general absence of consistencyspeaks volumes for the calibre ofcompetition in the premier class in2017 – not to mention the risks thatmany are now prepared to take intheir pursuit of the coveted worldchampionship crown. Having arrivedat Le Mans at the top of the table, Va-lentino Rossi found his position usur-ped by his team-mate in a Grand Prixde France that will go down in thehistory books as the two Yamaha ri-ders duelled tooth-and-nail right theway down to the very last lap. Follo-

wing a late mistake, Rossi made onefinal effort to wrest the lead backaway from Maverick Viñales only tocome unstuck at the ‘Bleus’ Esses.After crashing out in Texas and ma-naging no better than sixth at Jerez,the Spaniard duly returned to the topstep of the rostrum at La Sarthe –scene of his maiden MotoGPTM po-dium a year earlier with Suzuki. In sodoing, he snatched the championshiplead back away from his team-mate,who had supplanted him at the sum-mit of the standings in Austin.

After the first five grands prix of the season,the top eight contenders in the MotoGPTM clas-sification all have at least one DNF againsttheir name. Ninth-placed Jonas Folger is theonly rider to have scored in every race to-date,with a tally of 38 points thus far.

OVERVIEW

Having claimed three victories fromthe opening five races, Viñales is un-questionably the man to beat at thisearly stage of proceedings, with theYamaha rider currently sitting 17points clear of Gran Premio de Españawinner Dani Pedrosa in second. Firmlyback in contention this season, theHonda rider is reaping the rewards ofa change in approach and the appoint-ment of a new management teamwith a hat-trick of podiums to-date

and only one failure to score, in Argen-tina. That is a better record than com-patriot Marc Márquez, who hasalready made a couple of costly mis-takes at Termas de Rio Honda and LeMans. Just fourth in the standings, thedefending champion is 27 points adriftof leader Viñales – slightly more thanthe value of a race win – but with 13grands prix still to run, there is plentyof time to catch up yet.

OVERVIEW

TECHNOLOGY

Since the beginning of the sea-son, MotoGPTM television vie-wers can see in real time whichcompound of tyre each rider isusing in the race courtesy of in-novative new graphics: S forsoft, M for medium and H forhard. The wheels are depictedalong with the appropriaterider’s name when the producerchooses to display the informa-tion on the screen. This data isprovided by the compulsorypressure sensor on all MotoGPTM

bike wheels, and is verified byMichelin’s technicians after thetyres have been fitted for prac-tice and qualifying sessions, andfor the races themselves.

Readily availableon-screen information

CHAMPION

Just as he had done in Qatar backin March, Johann Zarco led theopening six laps of the Grand Prixde France. This time, however, theYamaha Tech 3 rider succeeded inremaining upright. After having togive best to his factory Yamahacounterparts Maverick Viñales andValentino Rossi, the Frenchman concen-trated his efforts on holding onto thirdplace, before the nine-time world cham-pion’s last lap accident elevated him tothe second step on the rostrum. “Thirdwas already good, but second isobviously even better,” he agreedafter delighting the partisan crowd bysecuring the best premier class finishfor a Frenchman on home soil sinceChristian Sarron at Paul Ricard back in1988. At Le Mans, Zarco took fulladvantage of the work accomplishedduring the test at Jerez. “We focused onimproving drive out of the corners,”reveals his crew chief, Guy Coulon, “andthe results were immediate.” Havingmade consistent progress since the firstrace in Qatar, there is now just one remai-ning step for Johann to take – the one re-quired to become a MotoGPTM race-winner.

Could that breakthrough victory come soon? “We’regetting closer, but we still have improvements tomake in terms of the general management of thebike, grip and acceleration,” he muses. “One thingI did learn at Le Mans is that starting on the frontrow of the grid is key to a good finish.” The rei-gning Moto2 world champion will clearly be aimingto practise what he preaches next time out in theGran Premio d’Italia at Mugello.

Zarco goes fromstrength-to-strength

ADAPTATION

Last winter, Le Mans’ Bugatti Circuitwas completely changed – no smalltask given that it involved layingdown more than four kilometres ofnew asphalt. The objective was tosmooth out the bumps to improvegrip – something that had been dis-tinctly lacking in recent years, parti-cularly in wet conditions.Michelin organised a special testday just before the Gran Premiode España to learn as much aspossible about this new surface,attended by Yamaha duo ValentinoRossi and Maverick Viñales, KTMteam-mates Bradley Smith and PolEspargaró and Cal Crutchlow for Honda.“This was an important fact-findingexercise to enable us to take the most ap-propriate tyre allocation to the Grand Prixde France,” explains Nicolas Goubert.In preparation, Michelin’s engineers hadalready gleaned a lot of information fromthe 24 Heures Motos held at the BugattiCircuit in April, through the Clermont-Ferrand based manufacturer’s relationshipin the FIM Endurance World Championshipwith Yamaha teams Viltaïs Experience andLMD63. “That meant we already had somefeedback about the gap between the newand former grip level, wear rates,optimum working temperature and thetime taken to reach that stage,” adds theman in charge of Michelin’s MotoGPTM

programme.

Getting to grips with a newtrack surface

TYRESFrom the Gran Premio d’Italia,

MotoGPTM riders will have access toa new type of front tyre benefit-

ting from a slightly stiffer construc-tion – an architecture that most

notably enhances stability underbraking. This tyre was first used at

the final grand prix of 2016 inValencia, but following complaints

from a number of competitorsabout chatter, Michelin’s engineers

developed it into the front tyrethat has been available since the

beginning of this year. “With seve-ral riders having subsequently revi-

sed their opinions, we took thedecision to give them all the oppor-tunity to re-evaluate the architec-

ture trialled at the end of 2016during the test at Jerez the day

after the Gran Premio deEspaña,” states Nicolas

Goubert. “To make it a rele-vant comparison, we offeredthis construction with twodifferent compounds, to

allow everybody access tothe same compound that

they had run in the race. Theconclusion was a clear

advantage for the stifferconstruction. We didn’t havetime to get this tyre ready for

use in the Grand Prix de France,but it will be fully available for

the next race at Mugello.”

A new

front t

yre

for Muge

llo

HAPPY

Following a trio of challenging overseas races to start theseason, Jorge Lorenzo claimed his first podium of the 2017campaign at Jerez – and his first aboard the Ducati Desmo-sedici. The three-time world champion couldn’t have wi-shed for a better gift to celebrate his 30th birthday, atthe same circuit where – 15 years earlier – he had madehis very first grand prix start in the 125cc category.Whilst he could only qualify on the third row, theSpaniard had advanced to fourth place within justsix laps before relieving Johann Zarco of third.“I think I made the right choice in terms of thefront tyre,” the Mallorca-born rider reflected.“I’m delighted to be able to share this first po-dium for Ducati with all my fans who haveturned out to support me at this fantasticcircuit – one that has rarely smiled uponDucati in the past. That proves that weare heading in the right direction, evenif my acclimatisation to the Desmose-dici has been a bit more complicatedthan I’d anticipated.”

Lorenzo’s first podium for Ducati

TYRES

Hot on the heels of the test held after theGran Premio de España at Jerez, Michelinorganised another session in Valencia, withthe intention of trying out new wet-wea-ther tyres on an artificially soaked circuit.This year, Michelin is nolonger offering theoption of intermediates, after the Frenchmanufacturer’s wet-weather tyres demons-trated their capabilities last season in condi-tions ranging from a sodden surface to adrying track with just damp patchesremaining. Such attributes clearly requirecontinuous evolution and a tireless develop-ment ethos. In what was a particularly busyperiod for the MotoGPTM competitors, onlythe Honda Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDSteam was able to take part in theMichelin test. “It’s a shame that there werenot more participants,” acknowledgesNicolas Goubert, “but we were still able tocarry out a number of very specific analyticaltests, all of which yielded useful results.This helped us to pinpoint a good directionto pursue for both the front and rear tyre.”

Wet-weather tyres put to the test

NICKY

Following a collision with a car whilst out training on his roadbike, Nicky Hayden sadly succumbed to his injuries on Monday,March 22 at Cesena Hospital in Italy at the age of just 35. TheAmerican’s passing has left the world of motorcycle racing inmourning. Born in Kentucky to a family of motorbike enthu-siasts, Hayden achieved his life’s ambition when he clinchedthe MotoGP world championship crown with Honda in 2006. Abrave fighter on the track and the perfect gentleman off it, hewas unanimously popular. After 13 seasons in the premierclass, he made the move to the World Superbike Championshipat the end of 2015 – although he did return to MotoGP brieflytowards the end of last year as a replacement for the injuredDani Pedrosa. “We are all very sad and shocked by Nicky’s pas-sing,” said Michelin Motorsport Director Pascal Couasnon.“Nicky was a fierce competitor, a true champion and a verykind, generous and well-loved man. Michelin had the privilegeof working with him during the season when he won theworld title in 2006. His loss is a tragedy for his family andfriends, quite clearly, but also for the world of motorcycleracing in general.” So long, champion...

Farewell champion

Nicolas Goubert says...

“At Jerez, our priority was to avoid thesame kind of criticism that had been direc-ted at us last year. The riders complainedof too much wheel spin. This time, it wasan entirely different story although as al-ways at Jerez, we encountered variationsin temperature between the morning and

afternoon sessions. The lap times in therace were not quite as quick as we had

been hoping for, and it is difficult to un-derstand exactly why the grip of the trackbehaved differently from one session orone day to the next. We are still wonde-

ring if the rubber laid down by the Moto3and Moto2 riders earlier in the day didn’thave an effect on the performance of ourtyres as some people say ? We can’t know

for sure why but the surface gave verylittle grip at 2pm Sunday and that can onlybe explained by the climb in track tempe-rature. The following race weekend at LeMans, we found ourselves faced with a

new asphalt surface. The changeable wea-ther didn’t grant the teams much time toset their bikes up for dry conditions but,from our side, we were able to gatherplenty of data on our wet tyres, which

worked very well during practice. We weresimilarly satisfied with the performance ofthe slick tyres we brought along. As antici-pated, the lap times were significantly fas-ter than last year and a number of riders

even posted their quickest efforts towardsthe end of the race, which ensured a spec-

tacular show from lights-to-flag.”

Date Grand Prix circuit

pre-season sepang, philip island, losail1 26/03 Qatar Losail International2 09/04 Argentina Termas de Río Hondo3 23/04 Américas Circuit Of The Americas4 07/05 Spain Circuito de Jerez5 21/05 France Le Mans6 04/06 Italy Mugello7 11/06 Catalunya barcelona-Catalunya8 25/06 Netherlands TT circuit Assen9 02/07 Germany Sachsenring10 06/08 CZECH REPUBLIC automotodrom Brno11 13/08 austria Red-bull ring12 27/08 GREAT BRITAIN Silverstone13 10/09 San Marino Misano14 24/09 Aragón MotorLand Aragón15 15/10 Japan Twin Ring Motegi16 22/10 Australia Phillip Island17 29/10 Malaysia Sepang International18 12/11 Valencia circuito ricardo tormo

calendar / ranking

mag 8

mag 9

mag 10

mag 11

mag 12

mag 13

mag 15

mag 14

2017 Championship

1 - Vińales (Yamaha)..............

2 - Pedrosa (Honda)...............

3 - Rossi (Yamaha)..................

4 - Marquez (Honda)..............

5 - Zarco (YAMAHA).................

6 - dovizioso (Ducati).............

7 - crutchlow (honda)..............

85

68

62

58

55

54

40