So near, yet so far...

Transcription

1 So near, yet so far... #14 michelin Moto GP TM o o t MAG agence cha

2 contents 3 - foreword 4/5 - Dovi on the march but Márquez holds firm 6 - A mouth-watering finale 7 - From Clermont-Ferrand to the ends of the earth 8 - Zarco steals the show 9 - Managing one s tyre allocation 10 - The importance of pressure 11 - Michelin recommits 12 - the role of the developer 13/14/15 - nicolas goubert says... 16/17 - Bonus photos

3 foreword In October, MotoGP s riders and teams travelled to the other side of the world a long way from their respective bases for three grands prix. So far. When the heavens opened at Motegi, Andrea Dovizioso defeated arch-rival Marc Márquez in an epic wheel-to-wheel duel to narrow the gap at the top of the title standings to just 11 points. So near. Next up, the rollercoaster ride that is Phillip Island delivered an extraordinary eight-way scrap, but the Italian was not part of it and could manage no better than 13th. So far. He bounced back with another victory at Sepang a week later, but a damage limitation fourth-place finish for Márquez means the Spaniard needs only a handful of points in the season finale on home turf in Valencia to secure a fourth world championship title. So near.

4 OVERVIEW Dovi on the march but Márquez holds firm With two victories to the one tallied by Honda s Marc Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso was unquestionably the star of the MotoGP show in October, but the Spaniard s greater consistency ensured he retained the upper hand over his Ducati rival in the overall standings With three races in as many weeks two of which took place in wet conditions the premier class title protagonists could ill-afford to slip up. The first to stumble was Maverick Viñales. Already playing catch-up after Aragón, the Yamaha rider lost further ground in Japan with a distant ninth-place finish in the downpour of Motegi. The pre-season favourite might have returned to the rostrum at Phillip Island, but it was not enough to keep him in contention for the crown. Another ninth position in Malaysia confirmed the loss of his earlier momentum, but the rain conversely played right into the hands of Dovizioso. In such inclement conditions, the Italian and his Ducati are currently the class of the field, as proven by two superb triumphs at Motegi and Sepang.

5 OVERVIEW Unfortunately for Dovi, Ducati s poor performance at Phillip Island undid all of that good work and his lowly 13th-place finish in Australia meant that despite winning two of them, Gigi Dall Igna s protégé took just 53 points away from the three late-season flyaway races not enough to cut his deficit in the championship table. He might only have triumphed at Phillip Island, but Márquez s impressive consistency a hallmark of his riding since mid-season enabled him to score 58 points over the same period. The Honda rider came home a close second in Japan following that incredible duel with Dovizioso, before overcoming a variety of issues to salvage a solid fourth position in Malaysia around a circuit that has not always been kind to him.

6 A mouth-watering finale Marc Márquez arrived in Malaysia holding a 33-point advantage over Andrea Dovizioso in the riders standings, meaning he could mathematically sew up his fourth world championship title at Sepang providing he conceded no more than seven points to his Italian rival... Malaysia, however, has never been the Honda man s happiest hunting ground, and so it would prove once again. Sepang very nearly ended the Spaniard s career in 2011 following a bad crash in Moto2, and at the same circuit in 2015, he controversially collided with Valentino Rossi. He has never been crowned champion there, and that trend continued this year. With Márquez able to finish no higher than fourth, Dovizioso s victory kept the Italian s title hopes just about alive, which means the pair s duel for glory will go down to the wire in Valencia (Spain) on November 12. It is a tantalising prospect, even if with a 21-point margin, the championship leader holds all the cards. In order to pip Márquez to the laurels, Dovizioso must win the race and hope that his adversary comes home no higher than 11th. That said, it was a similar scenario back in 2006, when the late Nicky Hayden pinched the crown from right underneath Valentino Rossi s nose so could history be about to repeat itself?

7 SHIPPING From Clermont-Ferrand to the ends of the earth s Video cédric garde Regardless of whether they are racing in Europe or on the other side of the world, MotoGP s riders always use tyres, all of which are manufactured at the Michelin factory in Clermont-Ferrand. Quite clearly, the 1,200 tyres taken to each race weekend are transported in different ways depending on the distance involved. For the long-haul grands prix at Motegi, Phillip Island and Sepang, three separate shipments are organised two months in advance, explains Cédric Garde, the man in charge of Michelin s tyre-fitting team. The tyres are transported by truck to the port of Le Havre, where they are loaded onto ships. One of these ships is bound for Tokyo, another for Melbourne and the third for Port Klang, near Kuala Lumpur. The tyres travel in temperature-controlled containers, continues Cédric. These container ships incorporate air conditioning to keep the Michelin tyres at a constant temperature of around 20 degrees while in transit, thereby preserving their properties.

8 CHAMPION Zarco steals the show After annexing his first MotoGP pole position at Assen, Johann Zarco dominated qualifying once more at Motegi and, just like in the Netherlands at the end of June, the Frenchman achieved the feat in Japan while running on wet tyres on a drying track surface. It is just such conditions that level the playing field between the factory bikes and independent entries, observes Laurent Fellon, the Yamaha rider s coach. In the wet, it s easier to spring this kind of surprise. It s also something we have worked hard at since Johann started competing at 125cc level. Practising on a kart track with used tyres really gives you a feel for how to handle low-grip situations. Zarco secured his second MotoGP pole position with Michelin s extra-soft compound. We had trialled that tyre the previous afternoon and had noted that it performed at its peak between laps six and eight, reveals Tech 3 chief mechanic Guy Coulon. When new, with maximum rubber thickness, there was too much movement. We therefore spent five laps on Saturday morning running the tyre in, before resting it until qualifying. It was a strategy that worked out perfectly.

9 TYRES Managing one s tyre allocation Avec 12 arrières et 10 avants par week-end et par pilote, chaque équipe MotoGP doit gérer son allocation pneumatique comme elle règle ses motos : avec précision. «Parvenir à tester tous les choix disponibles avant la qualification ne laisse pas de droit à l erreur, résume Nicolas Goyon, le chef mécanicien du team Yamaha Tech 3. D autant qu avec les nouveaux capteurs de pression qui sont utilisés pour envoyer les infos sur les choix de gomme à la Dorna, nous devons faire monter nos pneus la veille, et quand c est fait il n est plus possible de revenir en arrière. Un pneu monté doit être utilisé, sinon il est perdu.» Tous les matins, chaque équipe récupère donc ses roues auprès des monteurs Michelin et les installe dans son garage. «Nous avons quatre racks de dix roues pour mettre les pneus en chauffe, poursuit Goyon. Il faut deux heures pour chauffer correctement un pneu à 90, ce qui est la température idéale. Les pneus pluie, plus tendres, sont eux chauffés à 45.»

10 TECHNOLOGY The importance of pressure If it is tread depth, rubber compound and architecture that form the basis of a tyre, its pressure similarly plays a key role in its performance. The less a tyre is inflated, the more its contact patch with the ground comes into play, and the bigger the contact patch, the more viable it becomes to use soft compounds. We must however be careful, because if the pressure is too low, the tyre could let go, warns Nicolas Goubert. Not only that, but excessively low pressure can lead to too much movement. That is why all MotoGP wheels are now fitted with a sensor to ensure that no team goes too far. When we began work on our front tyres in 2015, we used a pressure of 2.6 bar, reveals Michelin Racing s Technical Director. Now, we can drop as low as 2 bar. That is one of our greatest achievements over the past two seasons.

11 PARTNERSHIP Michelin recommits After seven years away from MotoGP, Michelin has done an outstanding job over the last two seasons. That is why we have taken the decision to extend our agreement for a further five years. Carmelo Ezpeleta used the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix of which Michelin is the title sponsor to announce that the French tyre manufacturer would continue to supply the entire MotoGP field until at least Stability is very important to us and, to that end, we must continue to work together closely, added the CEO of championship promoter Dorna. I have been very impressed by Michelin s approach to problemsolving, and I am very happy with the solutions brought to the table to expand the tyre allocation in order to meet the requirements of all six manufacturers currently on the grid. Michelin Motorsport Director Pascal Couasnon similarly took advantage of the occasion to underscore the benefits of the brand s participation in the premier class: There is obviously the sport s image, but there is also the cutting-edge technology involved and all of the lessons we learn as we develop our MotoGP tyres. In this respect, motorsport is invaluable. Ezpeleta has already outlined his vision for 2018: We need to make further progress so that the tyres are more consistent in their characteristics. That is what the teams and riders are calling for. It is a challenge that Michelin Racing Technical Director Nicolas Goubert is relishing. We have made great advances over the past couple of years, but now we have to maintain that rate of progress particularly when it comes to manufacturing he concludes.

12 YANNICK GERBAL Forty-year-old Yannick Gerbal has only ever had one employer. I was born in Lozère, around an hour-and-ahalf from Clermont-Ferrand... After successfully completing my DUT national diploma in mechanical engineering, I applied for a job with Michelin. I wanted to work for a multinational corporation within which I would be able to try out a variety of different roles. After five years spent in the design office where he worked on tyre moulds Yannick began training as a developer: Over the course of six months, I learnt all about tyre design. In 2003, he returned to a racing environment and soon found himself involved in the development of front tyres. I worked in the British Superbike Championship The role of the developer with Ryuichi Kiyonari and Jonathan Rea. The weather made things tricky and it was often quite cold, but we won the championship twice and I learnt to listen to the riders, which helped me to understand what they needed from the tyres. Yannick subsequently moved across to Michelin s MotoGP programme, before the manufacturer withdrew from the premier class grid at the end of That was a tough time for me, because I felt we still had plenty of unfinished business there, he recalls. While awaiting Michelin s grand prix return, he kept his foot in the racing door with roles in Italy and Germany s national series, as well as the FIM Endurance World Championship. Since rejoining the MotoGP paddock last year, he has focussed on the profile and architecture of Michelin s rear tyres. There are three of us in this department, he explains, and we work in conjunction with the tyre chemists to send information back to the factory.

13 Japan represented something of a first for us, with rain from the first to the last day of the grand prix weekend, but that demonstrated that the sport s regulations adequately take into account exceptional circumstances because our wet-weather tyre allocation was perfectly adapted to the situation. The six different front tyre options and seven rears proved sufficient to satisfy everybody and given the particularly abrasive nature of the Motegi circuit, the lap times that we witnessed were excellent. That said, we noticed fairly quickly that the central part of the tread on the front tyre was coming in for quite a lot of punishment due to the track s stop-go nature, so to ensure better grip and stability under braking, we asked the riders to run the medium compound in the race. None of them had any complaints, and the extraordinary spectacle delivered by Andrea Dovizioso and Marc Márquez brought everybody to the edge of their seats Nicolas Goubert says...

14 Nicolas Goubert says... At Phillip Island, we knew that Ducati would face more of a challenge, but Dovizioso never expected it to be quite as difficult as it was. Notwithstanding the tricky conditions again, Márquez was on top form. From our side, we were satisfied with the speed at which our tyres reached peak operating temperature and the fact that there were very few accidents over the course of the weekend. The race itself was arguably one of the finest in MotoGP history and, once more, the riders who finished on the podium did so with a variety of different tyre choices.

15 Nicolas Goubert says... It was disappointing that the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix did not take place in the dry, because that denied us the chance to prove the worth of all of our tyre choices on offer. Everybody worked well throughout practice and qualifying and we looked to be in for a great race perhaps even as fiercely-contested as the one in Australia a week before but unfortunately the heavens opened just before the start. We know that Sepang s new track surface dries slowly, which is why we recommended teams run the medium-compound tyre at the rear. The majority of the field heeded that advice, but we also saw that the soft compound performed well, helping Johann Zarco to finish on the podium. This tyre allowed him to lead early on and his smooth riding style enabled him to maintain strong pace throughout. Even more notably, Dovizioso s victory in Malaysia means the championship battle will go on to Valencia, guaranteeing suspense and a spellbinding show right the way to season s end.

16 BONUS PHOTOS

17 BONUS PHOTOS

18 calendar / ranking 2017 ranking 1 - Marquez (Honda) dovizioso (Ducati) Vińales (Yamaha) Rossi (Yamaha) Pedrosa (Honda) Zarco (YAMAHA) lorenzo (ducati) Date Grand Prix circuit pre-season sepang, philip island, losail 1 26/03 Qatar Losail International 2 09/04 Argentina Termas de Río Hondo 3 23/04 Américas Circuit Of The Americas 4 07/05 Spain Circuito de Jerez 5 21/05 France Le Mans 6 04/06 Italy Mugello 7 11/06 Catalunya barcelona-catalunya 8 25/06 Netherlands TT circuit Assen 9 02/07 Germany Sachsenring 10 06/08 CZECH REPUBLIC automotodrom Brno 11 13/08 austria Red-bull ring 12 27/08 GREAT BRITAIN Silverstone 13 10/09 San Marino Misano 14 24/09 Aragón MotorLand Aragón 15 15/10 Japan Twin Ring Motegi 16 22/10 Australia Phillip Island 17 29/10 Malaysia Sepang International 18 12/11 Valencia circuito ricardo tormo mag 8 mag 9 mag 10 mag 11 mag 12 mag 13 mag 14 mag 15