Luca Marini gives Michelin “advice” after unexpected Japanese MotoGP breakthrough

Luca Marini says Michelin needs to “investigate” the Japanese MotoGP weekend because of how well its unfavoured third rear tyre option performed.

Marini had been one of the riders to dismiss Michelin’s hard-construction rear tyre before the weekend.

Michelin took the hard-construction rear to the Japanese MotoGP because of Motegi’s new surface and its stop-start layout.

The third tyre featured the same compound rubber as the soft that was in the allocation for Motegi, but the same heat-resistant construction as was used in Austria two weeks before the Motegi race.

When the soft tyre was withdrawn from Sunday’s allocation after it chunked in the centre for a few riders in the Sprint, it was expected that everyone would use the medium-compound rear in the race.

But in Warm Up the riders tried the hard for the first time and found that it was the best option, perhaps even good enough for a time attack.

Michelin had brought the tyre as a back-up in case the standard options were unusable with Motegi’s new surface, but it turned out to be the most performant tyre of the three available. 

This, in Marini’s opinion, is “something to investigate” for the French manufacturer because the tyre performed much better than anyone expected.

“Fantastic! Unbelievable,” Luca Marini said of the hard-option tyre after the race.

“We still don't understand why, maybe Michelin neither, but it was working so well that if they told us to try and push more to try it on Friday, it was also the tyre for qualifying and also for the sprint race. 

“Something to investigate for them – this is an advice for them because I spoke a lot now after the race with Michelin, with the engineers, because in my opinion they produced a fantastic tyre for this track. 

“I was complaining all the weekend with the grip and this morning I put this hard rear, the grip was unbelievable. 

“All the problems in the bike were fixed, everything was working well.”

Marini added: “We have this tyre also in other tracks, but it never worked so well as here, so this is also the other question.”

The Honda HRC Castrol rider admitted that the Motegi weekend had been something of a lesson in curiosity. 

He’d had the chance to try the hard-option rear on Friday afternoon when he crashed early and couldn’t afford to use any more of the soft-compound which was considered the best tyre for the weekend. But he opted for the medium instead, having already dismissed the hard, like all the other riders, before the weekend.

“Yes, of course,” Marini said when asked if it would’ve been better to try all the tyres.

“Of course, can be a good point, can be a good point. 

“But also maybe for me, that I crashed in the practice, it could be an opportunity to try [the hard rear tyre] because I already tried the medium in the FP1. 

“So, that was the correct moment because I crashed with the good [soft] tyres, so I needed to change – I was forced to change – and maybe there for the future we need to be clever to try everything. 

“This for the next year [when Pirelli becomes MotoGP’s tyre supplier], that we will have three specs every time, is something to take in consideration, obviously.”