Michelin made its return this year to MotoGP™ after seven years of absence and the French manufacturer offered numerous developments to its tires during the year.
With nine winners, changeable weather and a handful of lap records, Michelin faced a wide range of situations during the season's 18 events. The journey accomplished by the women and men of Michelin Motorsport since the first official tests in November 2015 until today has been long and sometimes difficult. Nicolas Goubert – Michelin MotoGP Program Supervisor – takes stock of this first season .
Nicolas Goubert – Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP program:
“I am very satisfied with this first season for Michelin in MotoGP after seven years of absence. The challenge was enormous and we met it successfully: the season was animated by some great sporting battles, nine drivers won at least one grand prize and new records were established on circuits with very different characteristics. And yet, if we go back in time and go back a year, our return to MotoGP was a leap into the unknown: new riders, new bikes, new circuits… a riding style that evolved over the seasons and electronics still unknown by the teams. »
As Technical Director of Michelin Motorsport, I am proud of the exceptional capacity for reaction demonstrated by our development and industrial teams throughout the season. Every time we encountered a difficulty, we modified our tires in record time to improve the situation. When we had to react after the GP Motul de la República Argentina, we prepared new rear tires within three days! There have been numerous developments, notably at the Grand Prix of the Americas, the French Grand Prix and the Deutschland Grand Prix: each time, the proposed improvements were validated by the drivers and confirmed by the stopwatch.
We have designed more developments during this year in MotoGP than in seven years of work in other Motorcycle disciplines. We tested new rubber mixtures and new materials, designed new profiles, created new structures. Thanks to this work, we were able to offer drivers a selection of tires suitable for a wide spectrum of conditions and temperatures, giving them more options to build their racing strategies. Thus, we have created competition between the different tire choices even in a single-brand situation.
This array of different tires also helped produce nine winners for the season. Some drivers implemented the right strategy for the specific conditions of the moment, others bet on an offbeat choice and surprised all of their competitors, as was the case, for example, of Andrea Iannone in Austria, from Dani Pedrosa in Misano and Cal Crutchlow, who won in Brno on a drying track.
The 2016 season has just ended in Valencia on a positive note: we offered the drivers the use of prototype front tires from the 2017 season for the weekend and more than 75% of the field selected this new profile. Thus, we confirmed during the race that our development teams are working in the right direction. Jorge Lorenzo even set the new circuit record in the race and the absolute best time on this circuit during qualifying.
Finally, I would like to thank all the drivers, teams, manufacturers as well as IRTA and Dorna for the work accomplished in partnership throughout the season, it is also thanks to this collaboration that the return of Michelin in MotoGP ends with success. MotoGP is a great championship and Michelin is very proud to contribute to it. »
