The first of two race weekends scheduled in Misano in the 2024 MotoGP™ World Championship calendar took place in the presence of a very large crowd. The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, located 50 km from Urbino, the birthplace of Valentino Rossi, the most successful motorcycle champion, is a hotbed of passionate fans. This area is also where several riders on the starting grid live, with a shared desire to offer a weekend of intense emotions for their fans. This connection between riders and spectators created a real party atmosphere, and while the weather was surprising at times, the Michelin tyres were well up to the task in all configurations and allowed the riders to express themselves and put on a stunning show.
On Friday, when Michelin’s partners set off for the first test session at 10:00, the track temperature was already 32°C. In the afternoon, this temperature increased to 39°C and the set-ups of the motorcycles were refined. However, it was on Saturday morning during qualifying that the final settings allowed the riders to really push their machines to the limits in preparation for the Tissot Sprint on Saturday, and the Grand Prix on Sunday.
At Misano, all of Michelin’s partners were able to benefit from the same level of performance and consistency of the tyres selected by the French manufacturer’s engineers. Regardless of the number of laps completed or the temperature variations, the versatility of Michelin’s front and rear rubber compounds allowed them to achieve the best times.
"Our decision to select a harder compound for the front tyres paid off," said Piero Taramasso, Michelin's two-wheel racing manager. "While the first day was dedicated to cleaning up the racing line and finding the best tyre choice for the front and rear, we then saw consistently high levels of performance during qualifying and the two races. Regardless of the number of laps, our tyres always allowed the riders to maintain a fast pace, and let's not forget that the fastest race lap, set by Marc Marquez, came on the 20th lap (out of a total of 27) of the Grand Prix. We also saw that various tyre combinations worked well. While all the riders chose the Medium compound front and the Soft rear during the Sprint race, almost half of the riders switched to the Medium rear for the Grand Prix – and this was the case for Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia, who finished first and second respectively. However, we also had a Medium front/Soft rear combination on the podium with Enea Bastianini in third place. As a result, we are satisfied that we provided our partners with a tyre allocation perfectly adapted to the situation, irrespective of the set-up of the bikes or the riding style."
For the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini 2024, Michelin Motorsport provided its partners with three symmetrical front tyres in Soft, Medium and Hard compounds. At the rear, they had the choice between Soft or Medium, both being asymmetric, with the right shoulder reinforced due to the 4.226km circuit's layout consisting of ten right-hand turns and six left-handers.
In case of rain, a few drops of which fell during the first minutes of the Grand Prix, Michelin had prepared its MICHELIN Power Rain ranges in Soft and Medium compounds for both the front and rear, the latter also being reinforced on the right side.
On Saturday afternoon, the Sprint race was won by Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing).
On Sunday, the Grand Prix saw victory for Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), followed across the line by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and his teammate Enea Bastianini in third place.
The weekend's MotoGP records
During the second phase of qualifying, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) set the new all time circuit lap record of 1'30.304, slightly bettering Jorge Martin's previous benchmark of 1'30.390, which was set in 2023.
In addition, the duration of the Sprint race was reduced from 19'58.785 to 19'56.502, and the lap record in the Sprint race was set by Francesco Bagnaia with a time of 1'31.236.
In the Grand Prix, the fastest lap in the race was set by Marc Marquez, in 1'31.564.
The next round of the MotoGP World Championship will once again take place on the Misano circuit (Italy), when Michelin and its partners will reconvene here in two weeks, from 20 to 22 September, for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Hector Garzo crowned FIM ENEL MotoE™ World Champion with Michelin
After eight intense race weekends, Hector Garzo (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) has been crowned 2024 MotoE World Champion. He becomes the 6th different champion in six MotoE seasons, all of which have been run with specially adapted Michelin tyres.
"I would like to warmly congratulate Hector Garzo on his title of FIM ENEL MotoE World Champion," said Piero Taramasso. "He triumphed at the end of a particularly intense championship, and we are proud to be associated with his success. We are also very satisfied with the progress of this sixth season, as the electric motorcycles have demonstrated constantly improving performance, highlighting the quality of our tyres. This avant-garde championship allows us to innovate, and we are already looking forward to returning to the starting grid for next season."
With a focus on environmental protection, the motorcycles in the MotoE World Championship are equipped with Michelin tyres that incorporate 49% renewable and recycled materials at the front, and 53% at the rear (compared to 34% and 52% respectively in 2023). It is the only two-wheeled competition at world level to go so far in the search for efficiency and the use of renewable and recycled materials. This season, Michelin also created a surprise by unveiling a new rear tyre with a futuristic design, its tread featuring ephemeral patterns with a velvet appearance, which disappear during the first laps.
Michelin considers this championship as a research and development laboratory, and intends to apply all or part of the technologies tested in MotoE to its MotoGP tyres, as well as to its mass-produced tyres, over the coming years.
Results and records of the weekend
Race 1 was won by Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team), ahead of Alessandro Zaccone (Tech3 E-Racing) and Eric Granado (LCR e-Team).
Race 2 saw victory for Oscar Guttierez (Axxis-MSI), ahead of Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) and his teammate Eric Granado in third place.
Records were also broken in MotoE on the Misano circuit. Mattia Casadei (LCR E-Team) improved his own reference time by setting a lap time of 1'39.856 during qualifying, beating the previous record of 1'40.731 which he set in 2023.
The duration of the two races (8 laps) was also improved. The first round saw the checkered flag at 13'24.775, compared to 13'35.506 in 2023. The second race lasted 13'29.676, compared to 13'34.056 last year. These figures confirm the constant performance improvements of the electric motorcycles, all identical, and the crucial contribution of the Michelin tyres in increasing this performance.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario