At the Grand Prix of the Americas, Moto2™ riders will be able to count on the Pirelli SC3 front compound at the front and the C1096 specification at the rear for Moto3™ riders.
Pirelli has chosen a dedicated tire allocation at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, which next weekend hosts the third round of the 2024 Motorcycle World Championship, the Grand Prix of the Americas. For Pirelli, which is in its first year in the Moto2™ and Moto3™ world championships, this circuit is one of the least known and the Italian tire manufacturer has decided to combine the options present in the standard allocation planned for this year , with two additional compounds, SC3 front for Moto2™ riders and C1096 for Moto3™ riders.
This choice is dictated by the characteristics of the circuit and by the recent resurfacing of several sections.
A new circuit for us with some unknowns
“COTA is a circuit that we know very little about because we have never participated in an international motorcycling championship there, and the data we have is therefore rather rare. Add to this the fact that it has recently undergone partial resurfacing to level out the potholes and bumps that cyclically re-form due to the ground it is built on; the tires will certainly face a non-homogeneous surface regarding the type of asphalt. From the information we have, we know that it is a rather aggressive circuit on the tires, especially the front. Irregular asphalt, in addition to the configuration of fast turns alternating with slower curves and high speed peaks, can cause very slight slippage of the tire, which generates abnormal overheating which causes thermal degradation and increased wear. . That is why, in addition to the standard allocation for 2024, we have added an additional stronger front solution, the SC3, for Moto2, which, from what we have seen in the first two GPs, tends to be more aggressive at the front, while for Moto3, which places more demands on the rear axle, we added an additional option at the rear, the C1096 specification, which we had already planned in Qatar. We must not forget that we do not use prototypes, but a range of tires regularly marketed, so the challenge is considerable.
After Friday's sessions, we will certainly have more information on which to evaluate the behavior of all the tires in view of the races.
Tire allocation : Standard allocation for the 2024 season includes SC1 (soft) and SC2 (medium) compounds at the front for both classes, and SC0 (soft) and SC1 (medium) compounds at the rear for Moto2™ and SC1 and SC2 for Moto3™. Then there's the DIABLO Rain solution in SCR1 compound for the front and rear. In addition to this provision, for the Grand Prix of the Americas, Moto2™ riders will have an additional option at the front in SC3 rubber (4 tires per rider), while Moto3™ riders will have a rear compound of development in specification C1096, 4 tires per driver. In both cases, these are more durable compounds to use if significant wear is encountered with the other solutions.
Asphalt : The sections that have been resurfaced are turn 2, the part between turns 9 and 11, turn 12 and the section between turns 16 and 19. The circuit must be resurfaced regularly due to the type of very soft ground on which it was constructed, a clay soil of great plasticity, which tends to expand when wet and contract when it dries. In the past, for this same reason, the track has already been resurfaced several times.
Climate: The circuit is located southeast of Austin, not far from what is known as the Texas Hill Country, an area where three or four different biomes meet: swamps to the east, desert to the west, sea to the south, plains to the north. Austin's climate is subtropical with often sudden variations. At this time of year, air temperatures can exceed 25 degrees Celsius, but temperature variations can be significant.
A heterogeneous track: The COTA, which has 20 turns and a total height difference of 41 meters, was designed by the famous architect Hermann Tilke who was inspired by the most emblematic curves of certain circuits: Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel at Silverstone (section between the turns 3 and 6), Hockenheim Arena Turns (12 to 15), and Istanbul Turn 8 (turns 16, 17 and 18).
