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MotoGP, Michelin: all asymmetric tyres for Valencia

The Spanish track has 9 left-handers and 5 right-handers. The tyres struggle to cool down

Michelin: all asymmetric tyres for Valencia

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Valencia is the last Grand Prix of Michelin’s rookie season. A year of light and shadows for the French tyre company that had to tackle the needs of MotoGP after years away. For the Spanish round, the manufacturer from Clermont Ferrand will bring tyres that adapt to a track with more left-handers than right-handers (9 to 5).

The riders will therefore have a selection of asymmetric slicks with a harder left side for both the front and rear. This time, the choice will be limited to just two compounds: medium and hard for the front and soft and medium on the rear.

In the event of rain, there will be more options: extra soft, soft and medium are the available rain tyre compounds for both the front and rear.

“We learned a lot from the post-race test at Valencia last year and that set us on our way for 2016 and we will be going to this race with very different tyres to what we had this time last year - explains Piero Taramasso - The circuit can be cold in the mornings and it doesn’t give much grip, so we have a range that we hope will cope with these conditions. That said though, with so many corners the edges of the tyres don’t have much chance to cool down and with the extra number of left-hand corners, including the fast final turn, we have asymmetric tyres with harder left-hand shoulders for front and rear to cope with that kind of stress.”

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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