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MotoGP, Michelin challenges Silverstone in the dark: "We don't know what will happen."

The English circuit has been completely repaved and tests weren't carried out. Four tire options for front and rear.

MotoGP: Michelin challenges Silverstone in the dark: "We don't know what will happen."

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Difficult to forget what happened last year at Silverstone, when the Grand Prix was canceled because the asphalt wouldn't drain after it rained and it couldn't guarantee the safety level required to race. The owners of the circuit had no other choice but to completely redo all the asphalt, in order to avoid a recurring problem.

 

However, it was impossible to organize tests before the Grand Prix, and this means that Michelin will face the Silverstone challenge in the dark. To select the tires to bring with them, the French technicians could only rely on the data provided by the company that carried out the works and on several indications that arrived from England.

 

In these cases, the regulation comes to the rescue, allowing to provide MotoGP riders with an option of more tires, both front and rear, so there will be 4 compounds to choose from: a soft one, a medium one, and two different hard ones.

As for their construction, the front tires in medium and hard compounds will be symmetrical, while the soft front and all the rear ones will be asymmetrical, with a harder right side.

In the event of rain, which can never be excluded in England, soft and medium compounds have been chosen. In this case, only the rear tires will be asymmetrical.

"What happened last year at Silverstone was a huge disappointment, but the circuit did a good job and the asphalt was completely resurfaced, however, this means that we'll getthere without knowing how the new asphalt will behave " warned Michelin's manager, Piero Taramasso. " he range of tires we've selected is based on data provided to us by the company that laid the asphalt, so we have some information on what types of materials have been used."

"It's always a challenge to go to a place where we haven't run tests. That's why we've included the possibility of bringing four different tire options in the regulation, in order to give riders the opportunity to find the best compound for them and their bikes," he emphasized. "We're confident, and we look forward to seeing how the new asphalt behaves. The first indications we received are good, but we want to verify it ourselves, and of course we hope for good weather. But we're going to England, so who knows what will happen."

Translated by Leila Myftija
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