MotoGP, Taramasso: "Aragon is quite a challenging circuit for Michelin’s tyre designers"

Aragon will host round 13 of the MotoGP championship this weekend. The MotorLand circuit is a track just over 5 kilometres long, with 10 left turns, 7 right and a straight that touches one kilometre. It’s a track that puts a strain on the tyres that must guarantee the riders stability at the fastest points, but also allow them to exploit all the power coming out of the slower corners. As if that were not enough, the climate is always an unknown factor, with the possibility of finding low temperatures in the morning and high in the afternoon.

“Last year at Aragón some of the sessions were delayed due to the very cold temperatures – the asphalt was below 10°C on the Friday morning – so I’m hoping the conditions will be better this year, as this time the race is a bit earlier in the year” declared Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager.

“The circuit layout is quite challenging for our tyre designers because it includes such a mix of corners, from slow and tight to fast and flowing, and the two straights where the speeds of a MotoGP bike are quite high – he continued - When you combine all these factors every lap, it places considerable stress on the tyres and we need to be sure that we offer our usual high levels of performance for all of the riders and teams.”

To do this at Aragon, the tyres for the premier class will be available in the three classic compounds (soft, medium and hard) with symmetric construction for the front and asymmetric for the rear (with the harder right side). In case of rain, rain tyres will be available in soft and medium compounds.