Michelin has expanded its available tyre range to four options for this weekend's MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix in wake of a recent resurfacing at Jerez.
The Jerez circuit – which was renamed in honour of the late '12+1' world champion Angel Nieto in 2018 – was resurfaced in 2017, but further repair work had to be carried out late last year after sections of the new asphalt broke apart.
A two-day test was run at Jerez in November last year, but this was prior to the resurfacing, meaning Michelin comes into the Spanish Grand Prix weekend with no data on the new asphalt.
As a result, the French tyre company has brought four front and rear dry options instead of the usual three, with two specification hard compounds being made available alongside soft and medium front and rear options.
“This weekend is another big test for us and has echoes of our return to MotoGP in 2016,” said Michelin Motorsport manager Piero Taramasso.
“Then we were going to many tracks where we had no data, and this weekend is similar as the track has had a lot of resurfacing since we tested there last November.
“Because of this we are permitted by the regulations to take four front and four rear specification slick tyres.
“We have selected a range we believe will be ideally matched to the circuit's asphalt from the information we have from last year and received from the company that had done the [resurfacing] work, and from the circuit.
“We are confident we have the right compounds for the new surface and are looking forward to racing in Europe after a hectic start to the season with the two fly-away tests and three fly-away races.”
All of Michelin's rear options for this weekend will be of asymmetric construction, with the right side of the tyre more durable. The front options are symmetric.
