Following a weekend of high-intensity racing at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, and before a much-awaited battle the following week in Assen (Netherlands), the MotoGP championship is stopping off at the German circuit of the Sachsenring from 16 to 18 June.
Located in Hohenstein-Ernstthal, in the Saxony region bordering Czechia, the circuit length is just 3.671km. A fact that makes it not only the shortest, but also the slowest circuit of the season. It has the particularity of running in an anti-clockwise direction, with ten turns to the left, three to the right, and a short straight of 700m. Logically, this layout is very demanding on the left side of the tyres, and the riders will spend a lot of time at high lean angles and at various speeds. The technical and sporting challenges will be numerous during this weekend, which as a result could hold many surprises.
“As summer is fast approaching, we know little or nothing about what awaits us weather-wise in this part of Germany at this time of year,” said Piero Taramasso, manager of two-wheel competition at Michelin. "Last year we had to deal with record temperatures, which exceeded 50°C on the track surface, but in the past we have also experienced situations with only 15°C. In addition to this, a few drops of rain are always a possibility, which led us to make strategic tyre choices to anticipate all situations. For the front, our partners will, as always, have three compounds available, and for the rear they can take advantage of our Medium or Soft tyres depending on the conditions and the feeling of the riders. These two versatile compounds should satisfy all requirements. Given the configuration of the circuit, we will have reinforced rubber on the left side, and the front and rear tires will all be asymmetrical. This fact is rare enough to be underlined, because this configuration only happens three times in the season, Valencia (Spain) and Philip Island (Australia) being the two other circuits where we use this technical solution."
In the event of rain, Michelin will provide its partners with the MICHELIN Power Rain range in Soft and Medium compounds for the front and rear, following the same asymmetrical construction as the MICHELIN Power Slick range.
Last year, despite the extreme heat which reduced grip, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) set a new all-rime circuit lap record of 1min19s765, beating the 2019 time (1min20s195) of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team).
In 2022, the race was won by Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), ahead of Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team).
The third round of the MotoE™ World Championship
The Le Mans and Mugello races have confirmed the excellent design and performance of the new electric motorcycles developed by Ducati with their Michelin tyres. During testing at the Italian track, lap times dropped by an average of three seconds, with the bikes showing great cornering stability on the one hand and excellent rear wheel grip on the other when accelerating. On the Sachsenring, the fifth and sixth rounds (out of 16) should allow the 18 riders (9 teams) to establish new lap time references.
For Michelin, the MotoE World Championship is a real-life research and development laboratory. The tyres fitted to the electric Ducatis in this series incorporate 52% sustainable materials at the rear and 34% at the front, reflecting Michelin’s environmental commitment. As its research progresses, Michelin intends to increase these percentages while preserving or improving the level of performance of the tyres. It will then apply all or part of the results of this research to its MotoGP tyres, and also to its commercial tyres over the next few years.
At the Sachsenring, the show on the track will begin on Friday 16 June, with two practice sessions which will allow the 10 fastest riders to move directly into the second qualifying phase (Q2). After the free practice session on Saturday morning, Q1 will allow two additional riders to progress to Q2, where the riders will fight for the top places on the starting grid for the races. The Sprint race (15 laps) will take place on Saturday at 3:00 p.m., and the Grand Prix (30 laps) will start at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday 18 June. The two MotoE races will take place during Saturday, after two practice sessions and two qualifying sessions during Friday.
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