Le Mans Grand Prix Review 20202020-10-14 11:40Michelin’s home MotoGP™ was disrupted by a heavy rainstorm as the bikes lined up on the grid leading to the first wet race of the season as Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) used his MICHELIN Power Rain tyres to the maximum to secure victory at today’s SHARK Helmets Grand Prix de France at Le Mans. The weekend saw very changeable weather with heavy rain on Friday leaving the asphalt extremely wet and the MotoGP field used the MICHELIN Power Rain tyres with impressive effect, which resulted with fast times and no crashes, despite the extremely tricky and slippery conditions caused by the wet surface. Friday afternoon the track dried allowing the riders and teams to work on set-up ahead of today’s race and these conditions continued on Saturday as the sun shone over the 4,185m circuit. As the start-time loomed ahead of the 27-lap race, so did the rain clouds and drops started to fall, leading to the bikes leaving the grid and a wet race being declared. As the riders returned for the new start-time, the race was reduced to 26-laps and all the bikes lined-up with MICHELIN Power Rain tyres in a mix of soft and medium compounds on their respective equipment. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was on pole at his home Grand Prix, but Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) got the holeshot and led into the first corner. The first laps saw the riders come to terms with the difficult conditions, as they searched for the maximum adhesion as the rain continued to fall. There then followed an exciting affair which saw the lead change hands a number of times before Petrucci took control at the front and used the full grip of his tyres to take victory and become the seventh different winner of the season from the nine races completed so far. Following him home was Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), as he produced a stunning ride from 18th on the grid to take second place in his first race using MICHELIN Power Rain tyres. The podium was completed by Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), to give a trio of manufactures in the top-three positions. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was next over the line in fourth, he also set a new Event Best Maximum Speed record as he used the drive of his MICHELIN Power Slick tyres in a dry Warm-Up to record a speed of 319.6Km/h. Home favourite Johann Zarco (Esponsorama Racing) took fifth, along with the First Independent Rider position and the accolade of the fastest lap of the race. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was sixth, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) seventh and Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) – who is deputising for injured World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) – recorded his best result of the season so far in eighth. Quartararo finished in ninth, a result that strengthened his position at the top of the championship standings and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) completed the top-ten Today’s race was held in the cool conditions that have affected the Le Mans circuit all weekend, but with the added difficulty of the rain, the low temperatures did not deter the French fans that filled some of the grandstands at the track though, after a number of spectators were allowed entrance to today’s event after following strict protocols to protect against the spread of COVID-19. Michelin and MotoGP now travel directly to Motorland Aragon in Spain for a double-header which will see the staging of the Gran Premio Michelin® de Aragón on Sunday 18th October and then seven-days later the inaugural running of the Gran Premio Liqui Moly de Teruel. Michelin closes another MotoE season as Torres takes the title This weekend’s FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup had similar conditions to the MotoGP field with rain on Friday, which gave the Energica Ego Corsa riders the first taste of a full wet session and the grip generated by the MICHELIN Power Rain tyres gave the riders the confidence needed to ride to the limits in the damp conditions. The rain gave way to a dry track for Saturday’s E-Pole, which saw Jordi Torres (Pons Racing 40) take his second consecutive pole position. The seven-lap race got underway on Saturday afternoon and Matteo Ferrari (TRENTINO Gresini MotoE) got the holeshot, but another rider crashing caused a red flag and a restarted race that was reduced to five-laps. Ferrari again got to the first corner ahead of the pack, but crashed and was forced to retire unhurt, leaving Torres at the front. The Spaniard rode a smooth and controlled race to take his first MotoE victory and move to the head of the title standings. Following him across the line were home rider Mike Di Meglio (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in second, with Niki Tuuli (Avant Ajo MotoE) third, as the pair made their first visits to the podium this season. Race two gave Torres the pole start following his victory the day before – the second race grid is decided by race positions from race one in MotoE – but it was Tuuli that got the start and led into the first corner. He was joined at the front by Di Meglio and the pair produced one of the most exciting races of the season as the two changed places throughout the seven-lap race, pushing their MICHELIN Slick MotoE tyres to the limit to set the fastest lap-times – quicker than yesterday – as they fought for the win. Eventually it was Tuuli that came out victorious with Di Meglio in second. Australian Josh Hook (OCTO Pramac MotoE) took his first podium of the season in third. Torres crossed the line in sixth to secure the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup title. This season saw the introduction of a new range of MICHELIN Slick MotoE tyres, as the French manufacturer produced a redesigned rear slick, new compounds and the whole range featured biomaterials and regenerated materials. These new tyres have led to close and exciting racing and taken MotoE on to a higher level of performance. Race and lap records have been broken from the benchmarks that were set in the first season of all-electric motorcycle racing and the extra grip produced by the MICHELIN Slick MotoE tyres has helped to improve the whole package available to all the riders. Michelin will now analyse the data from this season’s racing and use the information to translate the performance from the track to the street and make further improvements ahead of the 2021 MotoE season. Danilo Petrucci – Ducati Team: “The race was very difficult because in the beginning we had a lot of water, fortunately the Michelin guys said to me that the best choice was to put the medium front in the bike, even if we hadn’t tried it and the tyre gave me a lot of confidence. There was a big variation in the water on the ground, first it was very wet, then dried a bit, rain again and at the end there was a light line with some dry, but I was always able to pick up the bike and accelerate very good. I also felt very good under braking, both in the rain and the dry. I was really pleased with the feeling I had from the tyre and despite the cold temperatures they worked perfectly and I am very happy.” Jordi Torres – Pons Racing 40 – Race One Winner: “In the race I did not feel any drop from the tyres. On Friday in the practice I felt a very little change in the tyre after six-laps, but for the race there was nothing. I tried to keep my pace, but I felt that Mike (Di Meglio) had more information because he was quicker than me in the last laps and I am sure he must have used more tyre to do that, but I had no problem at all from the front or the rear and am very happy with this result.” Niki Tuuli – Avant Ajo MotoE – Race Two Winner: “I didn’t have any moments with the front tyre at all, on the brakes it is really good and I don’t have any closing, also with my riding style I don’t put a lot of weight on the front, but I feel I can turn well and use a lot of lean. In the rear the grip was even better than yesterday, it was really smooth from the first lap until the last. It was more-or-less the same through the whole race and performed really well.” Jordi Torres – Pons Racing 40 – FIM Enel MotoE World Cup Winner: “All I have to say is that the performance of the Michelins is perfect. For this kind of bike it is not easy to do a great tyre, but the best thing about the bike is the tyres. The bike is fast and you can turn, brake late and open the throttle earlier, but this is because you have a good tyre, and we certainly have it.” Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager: “This has been a weekend where we have had a mix of weather, from very wet, through to dry and sunny, but the one constant was the cold track conditions. We knew it was going to be a weekend of low temperatures, so we brought the softest tyres we could that would still allow the riders to have the durability for race length. The dry practice proved that this was the correct decision, but with the extremely cool temperatures if the race had been in the dry all the riders would have used the soft front and rear configuration to give them the grip needed to perform. As it was the rain fell as the race was due to start and the MICHELIN Power Rain tyres were used by all. The tyres again showed their performance in wet conditions and both the soft and medium compound for the front and rear were used in the race and they all produced excellent results. We had three different manufacturers on the podium, so the rain tyres showed our ethos of producing tyres that work for all. “MotoE has given us another great season and the title went all the way to the final race and I would like to congratulate Jordi Torres on winning the World Cup. We have learnt a lot this season and have been really pleased with the way the new tyres featuring the regenerated material have performed, the lap-times have improved and the overall performance and confidence for the riders has increased. We will now work on what we have achieved this year and come back even stronger, with more innovations in MotoE for 2021. “We now move to Spain for two races at Aragon, including the Michelin Grand Prix, it is a very demanding track and we are going there later in the year than usual, but we have picked a tyre range that we expect to work in the conditions, so we are looking forward to the challenge.” Source: Michelin Motorsport Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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