Michelin all set for Italian job

Tyre suppliers Michelin are hopeful of continued success at the forthcoming Gran Premio d´Italia Alice, with three of the current World Championship´s top five riders, Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) running on French rubber.

The visit to Mugello for round six will also see the home premier class debut of Italian hotshot Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot), with Michelin doing their part to help him achieve his first 800cc podium.

There is also the ongoing challenge of trying to outgun World Champion Casey Stoner and Valentino Rossi on Bridgestones, with Rossi having brought Michelin such success at his home track over recent seasons – before his switch to Japanese compounds over the winter.

Indeed, Michelin have a superb record at Mugello, having supplied the winning tyres for the last 15 premier-class GPs staged at the track.

`We are very much looking forward to seeing Andrea contest his first home MotoGP race,´ says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin´s director of motorcycle racing. `He has made a very impressive start to his MotoGP career. Despite some bad luck he´s shown he´s always capable of finishing in the top five or six, even though he´s a rookie and he doesn´t have a factory bike.´

`His riding style is an interesting challenge for us – he´s very smooth and aggressive, and he spends more time at maximum lean than most riders, so we are working to give him a better grip and handling balance from the front tyre.´

On the intricacies of the Italian circuit, Weber states, `Mugello is a great racetrack, with a lot of elevation changes which are a major part of its character, both from a riding point of view and from a tyre point of view. The circuit isn´t one of the most demanding for tyres, it´s a little bit tougher than Le Mans, but what´s interesting is how the uphill sections stress the rear tyre and how the downhill sections stress the front.´

`The other big factor at Mugello is horsepower – the straight is one of the longest in MotoGP.´