Just a few days on from the drama of Mugello, the MotoGP paddock heads for sunny Spain and Barcelona’s stunning Montmelo circuit.
The Catalan circuit first hosted a MotoGP event in 1992 and features lots of elevation changes, fast turns, hard braking zones and a one-kilometre long straight.
The fast, flowing turns mean that edge grip will really be tested on Michelin’s Power Slick allocation, and the right-hand shoulder of all three specifications will offer a harder compound to deal with the intense heat build-up experienced on that side of the tyre. Grip levels at Montmelo can also drop off as temperature rises, and along with the bumpy nature of the track, it will provide a real test of both tyres and bike setup.
This season will see a change to to the 4,652m layout at Montmelo, with modifications being made to the last chicane to give riders a safer run-off area. This changes the track to a nine right-hand and seven left-hand bend configuration – the previous layout had five lefts and eight rights. These alterations have been adopted following the accident that happened there in last season’s Moto2 practice when Spaniard Luis Salom sadly lost his life in a high speed crash. With safety always a priority within MotoGP the layout was altered for the remainder of that weekend last year and has now been further assessed, with additional changes implemented for this coming weekend.
Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager stated:
“The recent test at Montmelo was very informative and we were able to try many different tyres to see what works well there. The track can be quite hard on tyres and as the heat rises the grip levels drop, so with the test we worked hard on the compounds to see what would stop that without compromising overall performance. We now have a good direction for the type of compound that will perform at the track and as always, we will bring the correct solutions to make sure all the riders, bikes and teams have an equal opportunity to be competitive. The layout this year is also different so we need to take that into consideration, which means that having a chance to visit there and try the new design before the race was extremely useful. The event itself is a very impressive one, the track and organisation are both great and the fans that come to support the many Spanish riders make for a fantastic atmosphere. It has produced some exciting races in the past and hopefully we can have a weekend where the racing takes the spotlight and we see a good show.”
