Jerez is a real rider's track, dominated by successions of medium-speed corners through which high corner speed is the target.
The Andalucian circuit demands that tricky blend of smoothness and aggression from riders. Excellent edge grip and traction are the crucial tyre factors.
“Our tyres performed very well in Qatar, even in low temperatures, which could be important at Jerez because it's still quite early in the year, so the track could be quite cool”, says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing. “On the other hand, conditions could be quite warm, so we will offer a range of tyres that will handle a broad range of temperatures.”
“Our Spanish GP tyres will be based on what we learned during the Jerez tests and in Qatar. Our new generation 16.5-inch rear is working well. We introduced this construction at last November's Valencia GP, which Dani won, and since then we've been perfecting the construction and optimising compounds to suit each circuit.”
“We have focused on improving warm-up, tyre operation range and overall performance. Everyone knows that corner speed is very important with the 800s – the riders want to open the throttle as soon as possible in the corners, which means grip and traction at maximum lean are the crucial factors. Excellent edge grip is vital at Jerez because the bikes spend so much time at full lean.”
“The machines have advanced since last year and our tyres are very different to what we were using 12 months ago. We've already seen that lap times are a lot faster – the Qatar race was 30 seconds faster than last year's. I have the feeling that this season will be much faster because the riders, the bikes and the tyres are at a very high level and everyone has a year's experience with the 800s.”
“Our riders will test at Jerez after the race. At Qatar they all used our wider 16-inch front tyre, which has a fatter contact patch for even better corner-entry performance. After Jerez they will be able to test our latest, widest front, because when you increase rear tyre performance you must also improve the front. Our riders will also be able to evaluate the progress we've made with our 16-inch rear.”
