Misano hosted its first MotoGP World Championship event last summer, after 14 years off the GP calendar. The last time the track hosted a GP was in 1993, when the 500 World Championship was ruled by 500 cc two-stroke machines. Much changed during that period, during which the Adriatic seaside venue hosted World Superbike events. Misano underwent a major overhaul before last summer, with the circuit reversed in direction, from anti-clockwise to clockwise. The track is tight and twisting, with many medium to low speed corners. Previously its most fascinating feature had been a run of successively faster left-handers that led riders onto the back straight, the last corner taken at ultra-high speed. These fast lefts were beloved of the dominant American and Australian 500 cc riders who had learned how to race on left-handed dirt ovals in their home countries. Now this section is a succession of right-handers, with riders braking into successively slower corners, testing their deft control of the front brake and tire. Misano is the 13th of 18 races and thus commences the final third of the season. The second MotoGP round to be staged in Italy, following June’s Italian GP, it is followed by four flyaway races at Indianapolis (USA), Twin Ring Motegi (Japan), Phillip Island (Australia) and Sepang (Malaysia). MICHELIN & THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE OF MISANO “Misano isn’t massively demanding on tires,” says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s chief of motorcycle racing. “It has similar demands to Catalunya. It is more asymmetric than Brno, but not as asymmetric as other MotoGP tracks like Valencia and Phillip Island. “Last year the asphalt was new but it wasn’t as aggressive as many other new surfaces we have experienced in MotoGP, though it was quite bumpy. Misano gets quite a lot of use, so the surface will probably be less aggressive than last year. Much also depends on what kind of events have been staged at the track recently. “The most asymmetric section is from turn ten to turn 14 — five consecutive right-handers — with the riders staying on the right side of the tires and braking into four successively slower right-handers, from turn 11 to turn 14. This section places a lot of stress on the front tire, with a lot of braking on the side of the tires, so you can’t use soft front tires. We use medium to medium-hard fronts, similar to what we use at Catalunya. Our challenge is to improve our front tire, even though Misano is nothing like Brno. “While managing stress and grip on the right side of both the front and the rear tires, we need to deliver grip and good warm-up on the left side, especially for turn 15 and turn 16, which follow that run of right-handers. “There are a lot of slower-speed corner exits at Misano, so you need good rear traction. The track isn’t too demanding on the rear tire, so the range of rears is again similar to that which we use at Catalunya, medium to medium-hard, with different compounds on each side according to Misano’s asymmetric layout.” Misano Data Track length: 4.180km/2.597 miles Lap record: Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1:34.649 158.987km/h-98.790mph (2007) Pole position 2007: Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1:33.918 Recent winners of the San Marino GP 2007 Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 44:34.720 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)