MotoGP Interview Piero Taramasso: Everything you need to know about Michelin's race before Barcelona!

Exceptional circumstances call for an exceptional interview, and that of Piero Taramasso is truly so since the manager of the Michelin two-wheel competition was kind enough to answer all our questions concerning the issues related to the next Grand Prix MotoGP in Barcelona, while the men of Clermont-Ferrand are currently fully mobilized to respond to the consequences of the tragedy which struck the Valencia region.

To find out everything about the race undertaken from Malaysia by Bibendum's men, and which will take them to Catalonia in a week, it's here and nowhere else...

Piero Taramasso, you are back from the overseas tour, and it went rather well, while the last three Grands Prix took place in very different conditions, between the coolness of Australia, the rain of Thailand and the heat of Sepang. So you are satisfied with the results…
Piero Taramasso: "Yes, yes, I am very satisfied because everyone knows that Australia is a very, very demanding circuit, very difficult for the tires. And there was the new asphalt in addition, which we did not know, nor the level of grip, nor the level of aggressiveness. And finally, we were able to have a very good race, spectacular as always at Phillip Island. Then, there was Thailand, and there, we had a Grand Prix in the rain. So there, very good too, we were waiting for a Grand Prix in the rain since the beginning of the year, and it was very beautiful. The rain tires worked very well and we saw times, fast and consistent times. And then, the last overseas was in Malaysia, in Sepang. There, the temperatures are always very high, and it is a circuit there too quite aggressive on the tires. But it went well, we saw a good race, with really great show during the first 5 laps between Martin and Bagnaia. It was really beautiful, and it immediately reminded me of the duel between René Arnoux and Gilles Villeneuve on the Dijon circuit in 1979. It was incredible and I immediately had this thought! The tires worked very well in terms of consistency, and we had made the right choices, so everything was positive.

Very good. Then, unfortunately, we saw the tragedy that Spain suffered, especially the Valencia region where the 2024 MotoGP season finale was supposed to take place. So obviously, everyone was caught off guard, and there we imagine that the organizer, Dorna, had to turn to you to find out what could be done in terms of tires, and if you could do a race elsewhere. How did it go?
“Yes, unfortunately, there was this tragedy in Valencia that really deeply affected the whole paddock. There are a lot of Spaniards in the Paddock, but everyone is sensitive to these things that happen all over the world, more and more. So once this shock had passed a little, yes, we worked, we discussed with Dorna to find a solution. We put ourselves at Dorna's disposal, we told them “Listen, tell us where the options are, where we can go, where the circuit is possibly free, and“We, depending on the circuit, can tell you if we need 5 days, a week or 10 days to react, to be able to manufacture the tires and transport them on site.”. So there were 5 options at the start, which then narrowed down to 2, Barcelona and Qatar, and finally the choice fell on Barcelona.

We know Barcelona very well, but in November it is cool, the temperatures are not the same as during the whole year. The difficulty is to try to anticipate the weather, and we know that in Barcelona at this time, it is going to be cold. So what are we going to do? We are going to make specific “cold weather” specifications to be able to ride in Barcelona. We are not going to revolutionize the Barcelona allocation, because we are going to bring 2 front tires that were already part of the May race allocation, as well as the 2 types of rear tires from the basic allocation because they had worked well at the time of the race, and had been used with satisfaction. But
In addition to that, we add a Soft rear for cold weather, and we add 2 asymmetrical fronts, with softer compounds on the left and harder on the right, to work better in cold conditions.

The allocation will therefore include 4 fronts and 3 rears, as we do on a circuit where we have not been able to do tests, when we have new tracks. The regulations then allow us to add specifications and that is what we will do for Barcelona. We add this specification for cold weather, like that we are covered in all eventualities: it can be cold, hot, or normal temperatures.
So, once we made that decision, it was Sunday morning in Sepang, we started to launch the manufacturing. On the factory side, we have teams that are very flexible, very reactive, and our manufacturing process is very elastic too, so we put that in place and we will have all the tires we need for the race weekend in Barcelona, knowing that the following Tuesday there is also the test, d"There is an added difficulty, because it means manufacturing even more tires."

These specific tires, do they already exist in your catalog, or even correspond to other circuits, or are they tires specifically made for Barcelona in November?
"No, these are tires that are part of the 2024 range, so they are, as you say, already in the catalog. In fact, o"We are not allowed to introduce new tires during the season."

Yes, but this is still an exceptional case!
"Yes. But no, these are tires that are part of the range, but which are adapted to ride at this time in Barcelona."

So it changes in terms of hardness, softness, rubber...
“Exactly. As I told you, there are 2 fronts and 2 rears that we have already ridden in Barcelona, but the others are softer, less rigid, and they warm up more easily. Before starting the manufacturing, we talked with the riders and a few teams to find out what they thought, and everyone agreed on this allocation, so I am quite relaxed."

Besides the temperature for this edition in November, what is special about Barcelona?
“Actually, in Barcelona the difficulty is that the circuit has very little grip. The asphalt is old, it is very, very smooth, and already from the start, you have no grip. Often, the drivers say that it spins, it spins, it spins, even on the straight. This is really the characteristic of Barcelona, in 2 wheels as in 4 wheels, everyone knows that there is very little grip, it is very smooth. So that is the first difficulty.
Second difficulty, it is a circuit which is quite asymmetrical, with much more stress on the right than on the left. For example, you have turn #2, it's the first left turn, where it's really tricky. With #5, these are the two really critical turns, and that's precisely why we decided to bring the 2 front tires so that they have the left side softer compared to the right, precisely to be able to negotiate these two turns in complete safety.

Right now, as we speak, we are manufacturing tires in Clermont-Ferrand. How many tires?
"For a Grand Prix weekend, we're talking about about 1200 tires, between the slick tires and the rain tires, and on a test day like that, where you have all the bikes running, it's about 300 or 400 tires. So a total of 1500 or 1600 tires, but we already had some that were left over from the May race, which are 5 months old and brand new, never ridden, never heated, whether they were slicks or rain tires. So we recovered some of them, and there we will complete with new fabrications. And basically, we need a week to complete what we are missing.

So a week to make them, and then you have to send them, even if in this case it's not very far. But that doesn't leave much leeway anyway...
"No, no, there is not much margin left, but as I said, we started working already on Monday, and everything will be ready for the Thursday before the race. It is tense but it is going well, because our production tool is really very flexible: We can work on one machine, two machines, three machines, in 2×8, 3×8, depending on the need.

Are you using the famous C3M?
"For the rear, yes. For the front, it's a semi-automatic process."

In any case, everyone is well aware that this is an exceptional Grand Prix, put together in a hurry to respond to a totally unexpected situation. The temperatures are expected to be quite low, and you anticipated that, but if they were lower than expected, at what point will that start to be a problem? And in that case, could we use the MotoE tires, well known for their very wide range of use?
“MotoE tyres are indeed softer, and as the races are very short we need a very very quick warm-up. We can’t wait 2 for them to be up to temperature, for a race of 7 or 8 laps. So they have an instant warm-up, and it’s true that in cold conditions iThey are super, super efficient. In addition to MotoE, they often ride the first day in the morning at 8 o'clock, and when you ride at 08 o'clock in Le Mans, the track is at 00 or 9°…
Unfortunately we can't use them in MotoGP for 22-lap races, but the soft tires we have still work well. In Valencia, I remember that in 2018 we drove at 10 or 11°, and they worked. Afterwards, you have to be careful, you have to put a little more air inside, we know that it helps a lot with revving. So we inflate them a little more, we put the heating blankets, and instead of warming the tires to 90° as we usually do, we heat them to 100°. So there are small adjustments to speed up the tire revving and to give the rider confidence quickly.

Why do we put more air?
"Because when you add air, you reduce the contact patch, the footprint is reduced. And so afterwards, you concentrate all the forces, all the energy and centered on a smaller surface, and suddenly it triggers the heat more quickly, and once the heat is triggered, then it spreads throughout the tire. OWe do it all the time when it's cool, and in the rain it's the same way of working: when there's a lot of rain, and it's cold, we put in more air."

So to conclude, we have to face completely unexpected, difficult and exceptional conditions, and everyone is well aware of this, but you are relatively calm...
"Yes, I am calm. It's true that it makes you race, but hey, we are here for MotoGP, for the fans, and we will react quickly thanks to our teams, with a thought for our Spanish friends."