Michelin’s MotoGP crew heads east for the Japanese Grand Prix following three podium finishes at the last two races, including two second-place results. At the hurricane-hit Indianapolis GP Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) proved the performance of Michelin’s latest rain tires by leading half the race and finishing second while Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) was a close third. Two weeks earlier Lorenzo had finished a strong second in the baking heat of Misano. Inclement weather has been a major feature of the 2008 MotoGP season, with rainfall at more races this year than anyone can remember. And the weather could play a part at Twin Ring Motegi too. Last year’s Japanese GP was run in changing conditions, with riders swapping tires mid-race, going from treaded tires to slicks as the track dried out following pre-race showers. Teams and tire companies will therefore be keeping a close and regular eye on weather forecasts throughout the weekend. Last year Michelin riders took a clean sweep of the Motegi front row during a dry qualifying session. Motegi opened in 1998 and hosted its first bike GP the following year. The venue was christened Twin Ring Motegi because it features a traditional road course, used for MotoGP and other events, plus an IndyCar oval. The circuit layout is very ‘stop and go’, dominated by in-and-out corners that place the emphasis on how riders enter and exit corners. MotoGP stays out of Europe after Motegi, dashing south for the Australian GP on October 5, then heading north for the Malaysian GP on October 19 before returning to the Continent for the season-ending Valencia GP on October 26. MICHELIN & THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE OF MOTEGI “Motegi is a stop-and-go track, so braking and accelerating performance is very important,” says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “In fact, it features some of the heaviest braking of the MotoGP season. The track features several quite long straights followed by tight corners, so riders brake hard in a straight line for a long time, so they need a strong-construction front tire because the braking stresses are quite high. In this sense Motegi is quite similar to Shanghai, which also features fast straights followed by tight corners, so we use similar-construction front tires to those we use at the Chinese GP. “Riders also need to be able to accelerate strongly out of the many slow and short corners to give them the best possible speed down the straights, so they need very good acceleration traction from the rear tire. Finding maximum corner-exit traction is therefore an important part of our job at Motegi. Edge grip here is a bit less crucial than at many other tracks because most of the corners are quite short, so the bikes aren’t on the edge of the tires for very long. The track is quite grippy, pretty smooth and isn’t particularly hard on tires. However, Motegi is always a real challenge because we never really test at the track and because it is the home race for our competitor.” Recent winners at Motegi 2007 Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 47:05.484 (wet race) 2006 Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 43:13.585 2005 Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 43:30.499 2004 Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V), 43:43.220 2003 Max Biaggi (Camel Honda Pons RC211V-Michelin), 43:57.590 2002 Alex Barros (West Honda Pons RC211V-Michelin), 44:18.913 2001 Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500-Michelin), 46:32.600 2000 Kenny Roberts (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki-Michelin), 46:23.327 1999 Kenny Roberts (Suzuki Grand Prix Team-Michelin), 51:54.386 (wet race) Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin), 1:47. 288, 161.095km/h – 100.100mph (2006) Pole position 2007: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin), 1:45.864 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) James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin)