Information From Race Direction MotoGP™ RACE SUNDAY 20th OCTOBER Phillip Island We have been notified by Bridgestone that they are unable to guarantee safety of their rear slick tyres beyond 14 laps. It has therefore been decided to make the following changes to the MotoGP class race in the interests of the safety of the riders. 1. The race distance will be 26 laps. 2. Every rider will be required to enter the pits and change to his second machine with fresh tyres at least once during the race. 3. No rider is permitted to make more than 14 laps on any one slick rear tyre.This means that a bike/tyre change before lap 12 will require a second bike/tyre change to finish the race. 4. Riders using “Factory” and “Satellite” machines will be required to use the “hard” option tyre (B51DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone. 5. Riders using CRT machines will be required to use CRT “hard” option tyre (B50DR). Extra quantity will be allocated by Bridgestone. 6. The pit lane speed limit zone will be extended both on entry and exit, and the exit route to rejoin the track will be marked by a white line in the runoff area. Crossing this line whilst rejoining the track from pit lane will result in a penalty. Race Direction 19th. October 2013 More, from a press release issued by FIM and Dorna: Decision Of The Race Direction Phillip Island Moto2™ RACE DISTANCE TISSOT AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX Following a formal request from the Official tyre supplier for the Moto2™ class, Race Direction has taken the decision to adjust the race length for the Moto2 class for the Tissot Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, 2013, according to Article 1.17.2 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations. The decision was taken in consultation with the Official Moto2 tyre supplier in the interests of rider safety. The full race distance will be 13 laps, full Championship points will be awarded. Teams are also reminded of the update to Article 2.5.4.9 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations. Tyres must be used within the parameters as advised by the Official tyre supplier and approved by the Technical Director. Usage parameters include tyre pressure and temperature. RACE DIRECTION Phillip Island, 19th October 2013 More, from a press release issued by FIM and Dorna: FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Decision of the Grand Prix Commission The Grand Prix Commission, composed of Messrs. Carmelo Ezpeleta (Dorna, Chairman), Ignacio Verneda (FIM Executive Director, Sport), Herve Poncharal (IRTA) and Takanao Tsubouchi (MSMA), in an electronic meeting held on 19 October 2013 at Phillip Island, made the following decision: Sporting Regulations Effective immediately To deal with unexpected situations at specific events, particularly those that might affect the safety of the riders, it has been agreed to extend the competence of Race Direction. A new regulation has been approved to allow Race Direction to issue instructions to teams and riders at any single event which may not be in accordance with current sporting and/or technical regulations. The full text of the regulation may be viewed shortly on: http://www.fim-live.com/en/sport/official-documents-ccr/codes-and-regulations/ More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Lorenzo lands new lap record to claim pole position at Phillip Island Round 16: Australian MotoGP™ – Qualifying Practice Phillip Island, Saturday 19 October 2013 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Extra-soft & Soft. Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main) & Hard (Alternative) Weather: FP3 – Dry. Ambient 21-22°C; Track 28-34°C (Bridgestone measurement) FP4/QP – Dry. Ambient 24-25°C; Track 40-42°C (Bridgestone measurement) Jorge Lorenzo continued to dominate proceedings at Phillip Island this weekend as the Yamaha Factory Racing star set a new outright lap record of 1’27.899 in qualifying today, smashing the existing record by 0.766 seconds to claim his third pole position of the year. Lorenzo set his record time on his penultimate lap in Qualifying Practice 2, beating Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez to the top position on the grid for tomorrow’s race by 0.221 seconds. Joining his teammate on the front row is Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi was third quickest with a personal best time of 1’28.647. All riders on the front row lapped under the existing Circuit Best Lap record of 1’28.665 set by Casey Stoner in 2008. The best CRT rider in qualifying was NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards, the American rider will start in eleventh place on the grid after setting a time of 1’30.264 in QP2. Conditions were again warm and fine at Phillip Island, though slightly warmer than yesterday with a peak track temperature of 42°C recorded during QP1. For the qualifying sessions all riders selected softer rear slick options, while front tyre choice was more varied, with some riders preferring the superior edge grip of the softer, extra-soft compound front slick, over the slight advantage in cornering stability offered by the harder, soft compound front slick. The majority of riders assessed the hard compound rear slicks – which have been made mandatory for Sunday’s race – in the morning FP3 session and feedback indicates that these have slightly less edge grip, but better consistency than the softer rear slick options. With the new, grippier Phillip Island track surface causing an increase in tyre temperature, the works riders also assessed an extra-hard rear slick tyre Bridgestone brought as a contingency in Free Practice 4 to see if it was better suited to the revised track surface. The findings from this session reveal that the original, hard compound rear tyre that was allocated to the works riders performed better, and it will be this option offered to riders tomorrow. The next MotoGP™ session is morning Warm Up scheduled for 1140 local time (GMT +11) tomorrow and the Australian Grand Prix will start at 1600. Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “With the new, improved track surface at Phillip Island it was expected that we could see a new Circuit Best Lap record today, but to see it beaten by such a margin was a very pleasing result. We could see after FP3 that tyre temperatures were extremely high, so we offered an extra-hard specification rear slick tyre for the works riders to evaluate in FP4. However, this compound option didn’t work as well on the track surface, hence we will be offering our original hard specification rear slick to riders for the race. Both our extra-soft and soft compound front slicks were used today and the feedback from riders was that both options worked well and I expect both of the front slick choices to be utilised in tomorrow’s race. We anticipated tyre temperatures would be higher this year at Phillip Island, but not to the extreme levels we have seen this weekend. After analysing the used tyres after today`s sessions, we have decided that the maximum safe distance that our rear slick tyres can be run is fourteen laps. Following discussions between Bridgestone, Dorna and the FIM on how to best manage rider safety for the race, it was race direction`s decision to make tomorrow`s race a flag-to-flag contest.”