Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix Review 20202020-09-21 16:21Michelin’s range of MotoGP™ tyres witnessed a sixth different winner in seven races as Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took victory during today’s Gran Premio TISSOT dell’Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy The grip and durability of the MICHELIN Power Slick tyres had been evident all weekend, with every single session producing faster times than in last week’s Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, at the same 4,226m track. The record-breaking performance initially saw Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) break the all-time lap-record, before Viñales bettered it in Saturday’s Qualifying. Although this is a new event on the calendar, the comparable records from last weekend, just kept falling, with Bagnaia breaking the race lap-record on lap-five and recording the Event Best Maximum Speed in Qualifying. The record-breaking culminated today when Viñales set a race duration time, almost seven-seconds quicker than last weekend. As the riders lined-up on the grid the range of Michelin tyres again appeared in many specifications as five of the available solutions were used – seven tyres were available as due to regulations Michelin could supply up to four front and four rear specifications due to the track being resurfaced, in this case it chose four fronts and three rears; This again highlighted Michelin’s wide-ranging selection of tyres which gives all riders and manufacturers options for race-day. Viñales was on pole, but Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) got the holeshot, before being passed by the Spaniard on the first-lap. Bagnaia then took control on lap-six and began to open a comfortable lead at the front, until he crashed when leading. Viñales had started to close the gap and now took over at the front, running medium MICHELIN Power Slick tyres on the front and rear, he rode an impressive final part of the race to win by over two-seconds and become the sixth winner of the season so far. Following him home was Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR), he’d started from 11th on the grid, but made his way through the field with smooth overtaking manoeuvres, putting his pairing of medium tyres to full use in the process. Third went to Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – with a hard front and soft rear – after a long battle with Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), which saw the Frenchman finish ahead of Espagaro on the track, but he was given a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits and not taking the long-lap penalty during the race, leaving Quartararo in fourth, but with the consolation of being First Independent Rider. Today’s race was held in warm and sunny conditions with the track temperature reaching 39°C, giving almost perfect weather for Grand Prix racing and ideal conditions for the maximum performance of the MICHELIN Power Slick tyres. Due to local regulations a crowd of almost 10,000 were present at the circuit, all socially distanced and following carefully laid-down protocols, but they certainly gave a colourful atmosphere throughout the 27-lap race. Following home the top-four was Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) in sixth. Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) recorded his best result of the season so far to finish seventh, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) in eighth, a result which leaves him at the top of the championship standings, but with just four points separating the top-four. Last weekend’s winner Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) recovered from an early race incident with another rider to fight back and take ninth, with Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) rounding out the top-ten. Michelin now heads immediately to Montmelo near Barcelona in Spain for the next round in this season’s exciting MotoGP World Championship, as the event becomes the climax of the second triple-header of the season on Sunday 27th September. Maverick Viñales – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP: “This weekend we worked very differently, so I am really happy with Pascal, our Michelin Technician, because all the weekend he gave us good advice, especially for the first laps of the race. I am happy with all the work we have done and have been able to show our potential and now we understand what we are able to do, so for the next races we will try to be fast and consistent as we were here in Misano. Congratulations to all the team because they worked very hard and never gave up.” Michelin witnesses records falling during an enthralling MotoE double-header Michelin faced two races during this weekend’s event, with the fourth and fifth rounds of the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli following a single one at the same circuit last weekend. Saturday’s race saw Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) take first place on the grid after securing the E-Pole earlier in the day and this was after Eric Granado (Avintia Esponsorama Racing) had set a new all-time lap-record during Friday’s practice, showing the grip and speed provided by the latest generation of new MICHELIN Slick MotoE tyres – with their redesigned rear slick, new front compound and the whole range now featuring biomaterials and regenerated materials. As the race got underway Matteo Ferrari (TRENTINO Gresini MotoE) took the lead from the start and stayed out in front as a ferocious battle raged behind him. As the laps ticked down he came under pressure from Torres and Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP). On the final circulation Aegerter made the overtake with a superb manoeuvre on the inside of a tight right-hand corner, showing the grip that his Michelin tyres still had at the end of the race. He made the pass stick and took victory to increase his championship lead. Ferrari crossed the line in second, but was demoted by one position due to exceeding track limits on the final lap, giving Torres the runner-up spot and Ferrari third on the podium. Although the Gran Premio TISSOT dell’Emilia Romagna e della Riviera di Rimini is a new event – so all records are also new – the comparison to last week’s Gran Premio Lenovo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the same circuit and the same track saw the race lap record beaten by over two-hundredths-of-a-second by Alex de Angelis (OCTO Pramac MotoE) and a faster race duration time by almost three-seconds. Race two on Sunday was held in cooler conditions meaning the MICHELIN Slick MotoE tyres had a different temperature asphalt to deal with, but the compounds matched the surface to produce another fast race. The seven-lap event saw a change to the grid procedure as the riders lined up following their respective positions in race one and not from E-Pole. This meant Aegerter started from the front of the grid with the remainder of the field all on their Energica Ego Corsa all-electric motorcycles behind him. Unfortunately, he was involved in an incident on the first-lap with another rider and crashed out, Aegerter was able to remount, but his chance of victory had gone. This left the race to follow a similar pattern to Saturday, as Ferrari pulled away at the front, this time he was too strong for the rest of the field and pushed his Michelin tyres to the end to record his second victory of the season and move to the top of the World Cup standing, he also produced a new record race duration time, shaving almost three-hundredths-of-a-second off yesterday’s result. Again, an impressive battle formed behind the leader for the remaining podium places. This time Mattia Casadei (Ongetta SIC58 Squadracorse) and Torres used the full grip of their Michelin tyres to fight with each other to the line before Casadei crossed in second, just ahead of Torres. MotoE will next be in action at Le Mans in France in October. where another double-header will see the new World Cup winner crowned, and with 50-points available and 49-points separating the top-7 it is still wide open who will take the title. Dominique Aegerter – Dynavolt Intact GP – Race One Winner: “I’m very happy with this victory in Misano. Last week we had a third place, but this week we did better in the E-Pole and the lap-times are dropping a lot, so we are getting very fast on track. It’s fun to ride as we get new tyres from Michelin, so we have the best grip possible, The bike is quite heavy, so the tyre has to work a lot and the bike has a lot of torque so out of the corner your force the tyre a large amount. The consistency is very good, you can feel the front locks sometimes under hard breaking and the rear drops as bit as the race goes on, but I am very happy to ride with these tyres. I am sure they will develop more with the advice with give after the races and there will be some small improvements in the future and I think when the bike gets a bit faster and a bit lighter we can go closer to MotoGP times.” Matteo Ferrari – TRENTINO Gresini MotoE Race Two Winner: “Today the grip was different to yesterday because we rode directly after MotoGP. I tried to do my best to first laps and made a gap to the riders behind and I managed the grip really well, because I had changed my riding style a bit from last weekend. This is important for the tyres, we have a lot of grip, and also a lot of power, so a little bit of spin, but if you understand the right way to ride the bike you can improve the lap-times. I am happy and after yesterday’s race I have gained some points and now lead the championship, so we can fight until the end in Le Mans.” Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager: “Another busy weekend and another record-breaking one. It has been a great weekend for the performance of all the tyres across both MotoGP and MotoE. We had a test here on Tuesday and the Grand Prix riders were able to work on the set-up in readiness for this weekend and it showed that they took things to another level and found even more grip from their tyres. We set records across every sector in the two disciplines and witnessed exciting and unpredictable racing all weekend. The MotoGP riders are still learning to interpret the new rear construction tyre and how to get the maximum performance from it and this is also leading to them having many options when it comes to race day, which is something we aim to achieve – to give a choice to all riders and manufacturers. Six winners in seven races shows that we are providing tyres that different riders can win on and we have had three different manufacturers winning and I am sure it won’t be long before we get another new winner from a different marque, which again highlights the diversity that the Michelin tyres provide. This has been a very successful weekend, but we now have to go directly to Spain and start all over again.” Source: Michelin Motorsport Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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