The MotoGP circus crosses the English Channel for the British Grand Prix where Michelin riders will be aiming to give the French tyre brand its second consecutive victory and its fourth success of the year. As the 2008 MotoGP series nears half-distance Michelin has no less than five riders in the top seven of the points standings.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) is second overall, just five points off the points lead, after his totally dominant win at Catalunya on June 8. Dazzling rookie Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) is still third on points despite missing Catalunya due to injury. Then it’s veteran Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) and rookies Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) and James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) in fifth, sixth and seventh. Toseland has impressed in the first races of MotoGP career, with four top-six finishes so far, and the Briton will be out for a best-ever result at Donington, where he has previously enjoyed World Superbike glory.
Donington is a real challenge for riders, motorcycle engineers and technicians with a very asymmetric layout that features few left-handers and two contrasting sections that demand different riding styles and a delicate compromise in machine character and tyre performance.
The British GP is the third race in four weekends and there’s no rest after the event with riders and teams hotfooting it back across the Channel for the Dutch TT on Saturday June 28.
“Two of the last three Donington races have been run in the wet, so we hope for a dry race this time, especially since we have already had rain at a lot of this year’s MotoGP events,” says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s chief of motorcycle racing. “Donington usually has an okay grip level in the dry but we will have to wait and see how it is this time. Track surfaces tend to change year by year. We saw that at Catalunya where the track was very slippery, possibly because there had been a truck race there a few weeks earlier.
“Donington is not especially demanding on tyres, it’s probably quite similar to Le Mans from a tyre wear point of view. The big challenge is finding a compromise for the track’s peculiar layout. For example, you need very good warm-up on the left-side of th e tyres because the left doesn’t make contact with the tarmac very often. If you consider Foggy’s esses, the left of the tyres hasn’t touched the ground for a long time, so you need to make sure you still have good temperature in the tyres for the first part of the chicane. But you can’t simply use a very soft compound on the left because that side of the tyre does get a lot of stress through the high-speed double left-hander of Schwantz Curve.
“We had a very useful two-day test at Catalunya after the race where we confirmed some new compounds that we will use for some races in 20the near future. As always, we are working to find the best balance between tyre performance and consistency. In MotoGP riders now need to run quite hard tyres which allow them to be fast all the way to the finish, but at the same time they need fast warm-up and excellent grip. We have also made some good progress with new constructions recently. Andrea used a new rear construction during the tests at Catalunya, something we had worked out after Mugello, and it gave good results."
Recent winners of the British GP:2007 Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 51m 40.739s (wet race)
2006 Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin), 44m 54.878s
2005 Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), 52m 58.675s (wet race)
2004 Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), 45m 30.473s
2003 Max Biaggi (Honda Camel Pons RC211V-Michelin), 46, 06.688s
2002 Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin), 46m 32.888s
2001 Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500-Michelin), 46m 53.349s
2000 Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500-Michelin), 52m 37.246s (wet race)
Michelin MotoGP riders 2008:Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin)
Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin)
Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin)
Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin)
Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin)
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin)
James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin)
