The Michelin Motorsport team and the MotoGP™ paddock conclude their tour of Asia-Pacific this weekend on the Sepang International Circuit which is hosting the fourth and final consecutive overseas Grand Prix, the penultimate of the season, the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia.
Malaysia marks the end of five very intense weeks with Japan, Thailand and Australia. After three races contested on circuits and in very different conditions, the Michelin team is ready to take on the Malaysian challenge, its very technical route and its often mischievous weather.
Created especially for speed and exciting races, the Sepang International Circuit is one of the most popular. 5,543 km long, it is made up of five left and ten right turns combined with two long straights – the longest measuring 920m – without forgetting the height difference, an abrasive surface and track temperatures of more than 50°C. This technical circuit, combined with the ambient heat and humidity, is very demanding for the riders, the motorcycles and the tires. For all these reasons, Sepang has become a regular testing base in the off-season that the Michelin Motorsport team knows perfectly well.
The tire allocation for Sepang includes MICHELIN Power Slicks in Soft, Medium and Hard designed to respond to these specificities, the abrasiveness of the track and the heat of the asphalt without any compromise on performance. The front slicks are all symmetrical while the rears are asymmetrical with a harder right side due to the greater number of turns going in that direction.
In the tropics, rain is an almost daily phenomenon. There is therefore a risk of heavy rain during the weekend. The MICHELIN Power Rain have been selected to offer optimal performance for this route in the rain. They are offered in Soft and Medium for the front and rear. The fronts are symmetrical, the rears asymmetrical with a harder right side like the slicks.
Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport's Two-Wheel Manager, said: “It's almost the end of our long journey in Asia and Oceania, but we must not relax because the Malaysian Grand Prix is a decisive race for the championship. In the last three races we have faced variable weather conditions, from torrential rain to heatwaves, and we will probably experience it all again here in Malaysia, except the relative cool of Australia of course.
We probably have more data from Sepang than any other circuit, but it remains a circuit that demands a lot of respect because it is very technical, with an abrasive surface and often overheated asphalt. It's a Grand Prix where the tires can cope with the most extreme conditions, not only over the weekend, but sometimes from hour to hour with torrential rain and then a track which dries very quickly. The tires must therefore be able to perform in all these conditions. After all the tests carried out here and our experience, we know that the drivers will be well shod to offer an exciting race. »
The penultimate round of the 2022 season will begin on Friday October 21 with two Free Practice sessions which will be followed by two others plus Qualifying the next day. On Sunday, the 20-lap long race will start at 15:00 p.m. local time (9:00 a.m. French time).
