Multiple MotoGP riders dismiss Michelin’s Motegi addition
MotoGP riders have dismissed the viability Michelin’s harder-construction rear tyre at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Michelin has brought its harder-construction rear tyre to the Japanese MotoGP, but its viability as a genuine option has been downplayed by riders.
The harder-construction tyre is used by Michelin at circuits where it is concerned about excessive heat build up in the rear tyre due to frequent hard accelerations around a layout.
The circuits in Buriram, Mandalika, Spielberg, and Goiania have used the harder-construction tyre this year. In the case of the first three races, the heat-dissipating construction has been the norm.
This is not the case at Motegi, though, whose layout it famously stop-start in its character, something it shared with Buriram, Mandalika, and Spielberg.
But Motegi has a new surface this year that should provide more grip, meaning Michelin has erred on the side of caution with an expanded tyre allocation for the Japanese MotoGP.
The harder-construction rear tyre is included in this, but unlike the other four circuits where the tyre has been used this year, this construction is only present in the hard-compound tyre, a third option at the rear that has been added only for this weekend. The soft- and medium-compound tyres both use Michelin’s standard construction.
For some riders, such as Yamaha’s Jack Miller, the idea of using the hard tyre this weekend is not worth thinking about.
“It's not an option,” the Pramac Yamaha rider said, thinking back to a poor weekend in Spielberg two weeks ago.
“If we're using that tyre, I'd pack up and go home.
“I mean, being sarcastic, but at the same time, I'm not.
“I'll see what we can do this weekend.”
Honda HRC’s Luca Marini said at Misano how important track grip is for the performance of the RC213V. There, he was able to be in the top-10 from the start of the weekend, but in Austria – with the harder-construction tyre – he was only 14th in the race after missing out on Q2.
For him, like Miller, the hard tyre will be a last resort in Motegi.
“If we have a softer tyre, we use always a softer tyre, the one with more grip,” he said.
“But, if there is a high degradation on the tyres, we keep it in consideration.
“But usually when we have the standard casing, we prefer always the standard casing.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
