At the Czech GP this weekend, the MotoGP will have a few extra tire options. The FIM confirmed on Thursday that a change had been made to the tire regulations for the MotoGP class and would go into effect this weekend in BRNO.
The MotoGP riders will have a larger selection of soft tire compounds available during the BRNO weekend.
"Bridgestone has worked very closely with the FIM, Dorna, the riders and the teams to bring about a raft of regulation changes to the tyre allocation system," said Bridgestone's press officer Tom Tremayne in an interview with MotoGP.com. "This means that instead of riders receiving eight front slick tyres of two compounds, they now get nine (tyres) of three compounds with a softer compound being introduced."
"They still get ten rear slick tyres, of two compounds, but these two rear compounds have been made softer and they also get a choice now of the compound split – so five and five, or six of one and four of the other. This is specifically to address the issue of warm-up performance and to answer the requests and comments of riders in the last six months or so." (You can watch the full interview at MotoGP.com.)
Bridestone motorsport manager Hiroshi Yamada said that he expects many of the MotoGP riders to take advantage of the softer compounds during the morning warm-up rounds. Yamaha explains that the BRNO track is an abrasive circuit with a lot of grip, but the softer compounds will be of use on cooler morning sessions.
"The Czech Republic Grand Prix is the first for our new tire supply system and I am confident that with it we will be able to answer satisfactorily what the riders have been asking for in terms of a greater choice of softer compounds specifically to improve warm-up performance," said Bridgestone motorsport manager Hiroshi Yamada. "Brno is an abrasive circuit so grip is usually quite high, but I expect the softer compound options to be well used in the cooler morning sessions in particular."
