Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini

2022-09-16 06:27
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) resisted incredible pressure to take victory by just 3/100ths of a second in the Gran Premio Gryfyn di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Coming home in second place and breaking the race lap record on the last lap, was Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP), followed by Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) in third.

In the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup, Dominique Aegerter (Dynavolt Intact GP MotoE) claimed the 2022 world championship title after taking second place in Race 1, as the electric race series came to an end here in Italy. Mattia Casadei (Pons Racing 40) was the Race 1 winner, with Matteo Ferrari (Felo Gresini MotoE) taking victory in Race 2 on Sunday.

All but one rider chose the Hard front and Medium rear MICHELIN Power Slick combination for the race, with the exception being Kazuki WATANABE (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who opted for the Medium front.

The forecast for the weekend wasn’t initially promising, but dry weather on Friday and Saturday for the Free Practice sessions gave the riders a chance to put plenty of laps on the MICHELIN Power Slick tyres and gain valuable machine setting information in the event of rain later in the weekend, and a dry race on Sunday.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) laid down the first marker of the weekend by topping the time sheets in FP1 with a time of 1’32.313 on Medium compound tyres front and rear. In FP2 other tyre combinations were tested, before Soft rears were fitted for the final five-minute time-attack push, when the lap times dropped as the riders tried to secure a top-ten place, and a likely direct access to Q2 given the uncertain weather outlook. Enea Bastianini finished ahead of the pack with a fastest time of 1’31.517.

In FP3 on Saturday morning, more slick tyre testing took place before ‘pre-qualifying’ time attack started in earnest. This started earlier than usual to try to avoid any yellow flag incidents, and some drops of rain falling in sector four of the track added excitement and more tension to the proceedings. At the end of the session, it was Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) who led the way with a best lap time of 1’31.296 on his Soft front and rear MICHELIN Power Slicks.

Rain flags were out for the start of FP4, as the forecast wet weather finally made an unwelcome appearance. The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was enough to cause the riders to take it easy for the first half of the session, and not risk a fall for little reward. The rain was heavier for Q2, but the track surface wasn’t wet enough for MICHELIN Power Rain tyres. In these extremely difficult mixed conditions, fortune favoured the brave and Jack Miller took only his second ever MotoGP pole position, at the head of a Ducati front row lock-out.

Speaking after the race, Piero Taramasso, Michelin Two Wheel Motorsport Manager, said: “It was good to finally get some dry days here at Misano to put our full slick tyre allocation to the test on the surface that was laid back in 2020. The performance was very positive, with all options working well at different moments during the weekend depending on temperature and track conditions and giving the riders the confidence to push for fast lap times.

“On race day the weather thankfully defied the pre-weekend wet weather forecast and was the hottest day of the weekend. The Hard front and Medium rear tyre combination, that worked so well in the free practice sessions, was chosen by virtually all of the grid and they performed very well, irrespective of bike manufacturer. The lap times were close and consistently fast from start to finish, and the close racing showed that the tyres had accessible performance levels and gave the riders confidence to fight till the end for the race win – and allowed Enea to set a new race lap record on the last lap.

“I would also like to congratulate Dominique on his MotoE world championship, consistently showing that our bespoke MotoE race tyres with high percentages of sustainable materials, were able to produce exciting and close racing throughout the season.”

Source: Michelin Motorsport

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