MotoGP, Michelin prepares an antidote to the "Valencia snake"

Valencia, as is tradition, is the final event of the season and therefore the final challenge for the Michelin technicians. Not one to be underestimated, the Ricardo Tormo track is a tricky one.

The Spanish track is in fact unique and, for this event, Michelin will provide riders with asymmetrical front and rear tyres, something it does for only three of the tracks on the calendar. The left side pf the tyres is harder, considering that there are nine left-hand turns and only 5 right-handers.

The slicks come in three compounds (soft, medium and hard), as per the regulation, while the rain tyres are available as either soft or hard solutions (in this case, only the rears have an asymmetrical construction).

“After the four fly-aways, it feels almost comforting to be back on familiar territory in Europe, but we are still very aware that Valencia in late November will be as big a challenge as we have had this year - comments Piero Taramasso - The cooler mornings will certainly have an effect and when we chose the tyres for this race back in February, we had to decide on the best compounds to work with that and for when the air and track hopefully warms-up in the afternoon.

The weather is not the only problem.

"Valencia is one of the few circuits we bring a whole set of asymmetric tyres to, this is because the tyre spends so much time on the side through the snake-like design of the track, that it means we need a tyre with different compounds on it to contend with this layout and give the riders the confidence and performance they require."