Press Release – Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia

2022-11-04 09:13
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) resisted the pressure and was on top form to win the penultimate race of the 2022 MotoGP™ season at the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia in Sepang. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) crossed the line in second place, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) taking third.

During the Q2 session on Saturday, Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin set a new all-time circuit lap record of 1’57.790, more than half a second faster than the previous best.

Race-tyre choice for the entire grid was Medium front and Soft rear MICHELIN Power Slicks. This pairing offering the best performance for all riders by combining the grip and stability of the Medium front, with the fast warm-up and high grip levels of the Soft rear. This tyre performance allowed Martin to break the race lap record, with a time of 1’59.634 on the second lap of the race, and led to a new Sepang race duration record time of 40’14.332.

Dry conditions in Friday morning’s FP1 session gave the riders the chance to try some of the different MICHELIN Power Slick options. Due to the uncertainty over weather conditions and the ever-present possibility of yellow flag incidents, some riders fitted new tyres to push for fast lap times towards the end of the session. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) fitted Medium compound tyres front and rear, and set the best FP1 lap time of 1’59.479 – a time almost two-tenths of a second faster than the existing race lap record. Heavy rain during the afternoon delayed the start of FP2 and put paid to more dry track time, but at least gave the teams the chance to work on settings with rain tyres.

Rain was forecast for Saturday afternoon, so the dry FP3 session allowed the riders outside the top 10 places from Friday’s FP1 to push in the hunt for a direct place in Q2. This uncertain meteorological situation led to some riders heading out on Soft rear tyres straight away, and others doing more testing of the MICHELIN Power Slicks to fine-tune set-up and find the best possible race tyre before going for time attack. Rain flags came out towards the end of the session, although not enough to require rain tyres, and in a dramatic few minutes Martin set the fastest lap time of 1’58.583 on Medium front and Soft rear slick tyres. Against the odds, Qualifying was dry and the high track temperatures and hot pace led to the new all-time circuit lap record for Martin.

Commenting after the race, Piero Taramasso, Michelin Two Wheel Motorsport Manager, said: “This weekend we had typical Sepang conditions, with dry weather in the mornings followed by rain in the afternoon. This gave the riders the chance to try all of our tyres, but the track conditions on Friday morning were not very good, with a green surface, which made assessing the potential of the slicks difficult for the riders. However, despite the difficult conditions, Jorge Martin’s new lap record, which was more than half a second faster than the previous record, showed the true potential of our tyres.

“Despite the uncertain weather forecast, the weather stayed dry and relatively cool for the race, and the performance of our slicks under these race conditions was very positive, with consistent lap times, a new race lap record and a new race duration record. This consistent performance led to an exciting race in terms of the 2022 championship and means that the title race will go right to the final round at Valencia, which is great news for the fans.”

Source: Michelin Motorsport

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story