A now well-established ritual, the presentation of the Michelin Grand Prix de France MotoGP allows each of the stakeholders to express themselves by drawing up the legitimately always positive assessment of the last edition and by addressing the new features of the coming chapter, and in this regard, between Claude Michy (PHA) the organizer, Pierre Fillon (ACO) the host, Thomas Sénécal (Canal+) the broadcaster, and Sébastien Poirier (FFMoto), Nora Vass, Marketing Director of Michelin Motorsports, has a little scoop for us…
Of course, all French fans are a little sad to see Michelin leave MotoGP at the end of the 2026 season, after so many years of good and loyal service.
Unfortunately, as in many areas, this is yet another example of very high-tech French know-how that will leave the spotlight, and even if there is little doubt that the men and women of Clermont-Ferrand will apply their skills in another sporting discipline, it will in any case no longer be at the pinnacle of motorcycle competition.
But the Bibendum will leave with its head held high, having beaten all the current records, obviously the result of the evolution of MotoGP but also of the Clermont alchemy to face unusual challenges, such as for example making 300 horsepower pass over the surface of a credit card with a steep angle of inclination, in 100% of cases.
Michelin, the title sponsor of the French MotoGP Grand Prix since last year, is still the same this year, and we learned this during this conference from Nora Vass, the Marketing Director of Michelin Motorsports, will be the same next year! A way to connect more closely with French spectators by presenting them with the fruit of work organized around the two axes of performance and sustainable mobility.
Nora Vass: “Hello to all the MotoGP fans. I am very happy to be here with you again, and we are very proud to be once again the partner and title sponsor of the French GP which is, I think, undoubtedly the most popular Grand Prix and race on the MotoGP calendar. And the good news is thatWe will continue this partnership next year too!
And then, thank you very much to Claude (Michy) and his entire team for trusting us, for welcoming us into the family, and for all the work we do together on this Grand Prix which is an extraordinary spectacle, with spectators and also extraordinary performances.
And when we work on MotoGP, we of course work on the performance side and on innovation. And you know, I already said last time, Michelin uses Motorsport to work on our sustainable innovations. So the good news is that this year we're going to have a little newborn with us, a tire with even more sustainable materials, recycled and renewable, which will be running during the electric motorcycle championship. Starting Thursday, it will be visible.
And on the MotoGP side, we don't have a new range that we're bringing. On the other hand, we continue to exploit all the data to give even more performance, more grip, more consistency in the performance of our products, whether for the riders who ride on the track, or the different bikers who ride Michelin tires on the circuits. And when we talk about MotoGP, it's not just performance, but it's also emotion, a lot of emotion. So this year, Michelin will be there with an even bigger stand, with an activation around Gaming and the new Motorsport MotoGP game which is released on this occasion. And we will also have with us our brand ambassador Melanie Astles, who is a champion aerobatic flyer, who will also bring vibrations and who will share his passion with us. So I think we will all have a fabulous weekend. Bibendum will be there too, who is already counting down the days, so join us at our stand and at the event. A very good Grand Prix to all, and see you very soon!
Photo credit: Michelin
Opening photo credit: PSP Lukasz Swiderek
