It was during the Grand Prix Commission which was held in Madrid last Friday, composed of gentlemen Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna), Ignacio Verneda (FIM), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), and in the presence of Mike Trimby (IRTA), Paul Duparc (FIM), Mike Webb (Race Director), Danny Aldridge (Technical Director) and Corrado Cecchinelli (Technology Director) announced the removal of intermediate tires.
These, present only in the MotoGP category, had in fact been used very little, despite an extremely disrupted season in terms of weather.
Nicolas Goubert, Deputy Director, Technical Director and Supervisor of the MotoGP program, during the press conference in Valencia: “Intermediate tires were something new this year. Dorna asked us to supply intermediate tires because they wanted to be sure that, especially during free practice, the drivers could take to the track when the conditions were half dry and half wet. So, of course, we did it. But during this year, we also realized that our range of medium rain tires could survive quite easily on dry or completely dry tracks. And I remember that on several occasions, at exactly the same time, we had people on the track on slicks, rain tires and intermediates. And using the tires for several laps without the slightest problem.
We spoke with Dorna as they had also noted this, and we suggested that perhaps it was not essential to bring in intermediates again, as we had proven to the teams and riders that they could run on a dry or almost dry track on wet tires and perhaps there was no longer this need. »
