Stars surprised by MotoGP race simulations

MotoGP News
Date: 5/March/2012

MotoGP races could see more sideways action and increased physical effort in 2012 following revealing comments regarding the rate of tyre wear at the recent Sepang test.

This season marks the switch from 800 to 1000cc engines, but a more subtle change is in the form of revisions made by tyre supplier Bridgestone.

Following criticism of the time taken to get last year’s tyres up to operating temperature, Bridgestone has made construction changes for 2012. This will mean that the tyres warm-up far sooner, but will also degrade at a greater rate.

This degradation, magnified by the larger engines, resulted in a dramatic drop in tyre grip after just a handful of laps when the likes of Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow completed their first race simulation on the 2012 Yamahas.

Former world champion Lorenzo said: “It was really tough physically, doing the race simulation on the last day, but it was very important to see what happened.

“This year it will be really, really hard to keep a constant pace to the end of the race because after just three or four laps the rear tyre grip suddenly drops, and then it continues to drop steadily after that.

“So the rider that can manage his tyres to the end of the race will have a strong season.”

The effort of hanging on to a sliding 200mph motorcycle for so many laps has also prompted Lorenzo to ramp-up his training. “Now I need to train very hard to be more prepared physically,” he said.

Tech 3 rider Crutchlow gave a similar verdict: “I did a long run and the new tyres were sliding around quite a bit. It made it very physical, but quite good and it looks like tyre management is going to be more important than ever.”

Lorenzo and Crutchlow were fourth and fifth fastest at the test, but the pace-setting Repsol Hondas of Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa did not to complete a race simulation.

Lorenzo, runner-up to Stoner last season, said: “If we can improve the race pace by two or three tenths that would be perfect.”

One more pre-season test remains, at Jerez, before the start of the 2012 racing season.