At the end of each Grand Prix day, at Assen as everywhere else, Michelin releases its technical notes concerning the more or less perfect osmosis between the track and the tires MotoGP which it provides to all competitors in the premier category.
In this respect, it was not the Dutch circuit that posed a problem for the drivers during Practice, but the particularly low temperatures for the season, preventing the medium front tire from reaching its optimal operating temperature….
So here are the Friday Michelin technical notes, stated by Piero Taramasso, Two-wheel Manager at Michelin Motorsport.
« Assen, first day.
It was not an easy day due to the weather conditionsIt rained a lot overnight. It was even raining this morning. MotoE, for example, had its first test session on a wet track. Then it started to dry out a bit, but the temperature, especially the track temperature, was still quite low. It was around 24°C in the morning and only 23°C in the afternoon, it was lower, with a cold wind. The situation was similar to Le Mans, Silverstone, or Phillip Island, where we struggle to maintain the temperature or raise the front tire temperature.
In the morning, with a soft front tire and a medium rear tire, everything was fine., it was manageable for all the pilots. Then, Afternoon, when they tried to put a medium tire on the front, we realized it was too limited, that it was too cold for this specification. So the best choice was to go back to the soft front tire, while the soft rear tire worked well, providing extra grip and good stability. The medium rear tire also worked, but offered less grip. So it's a tricky situation that we sometimes face, and a solution that has already been voted on by all the teams, which we will implement next season, is to go from three front specs to only two front specs, but with a greater quantity.
In this configuration, Drivers will have more tires for a specific specification, which they can use if they want to spend the whole weekend with a single specification of tires.
For tomorrow, we have one more session in the morning, but for the Sprint, due to the temperature being higher tomorrow, as we expect more sun and at least 7 to 8°C higher on the track, we expect to see soft rear tires for the Sprint, of course. And for the front, it could be soft or medium tires for the drivers who can handle them, or hard tires on the front.
Dutch Grand Prix Practice Results MotoGP in Assen 2025:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
Michelin Assen
