MotoGP | Taramasso: “The Hard+ front makes its debut in Jerez”

MotoGP is ready to start the European phase of the 2024 season with one of its great classics, the Spanish Grand Prix which will be held on one of the temples of motorcycling, the Jerez de la Frontera track. A track that everyone knows very well, because it is not only a fixed stop on the calendar, but it is the one that is used most by teams for private tests, given the favorable climatic conditions that it offers practically at any time of the year. This was also confirmed to us by the head of Michelin, Piero Taramasso.

“Jerez is a demanding track, because the tires are constantly under stress: there are no straights that are too long, so there is no way to let them 'rest'. This usually generates quite high temperatures on both the front and rear. But it is also a circuit that we know well, because we do a lot of tests, including private ones, and we have a lot of data, so we don't approach it with great fears,” Taramasso told Motorsport.com.

So what kind of choices did you make in view of the Spanish Grand Prix?
“We confirmed the same stiffness range as the solutions we used last year, but with some small changes. At the front we bring three symmetrical solutions, but the only one that is completely identical is the medium, because it is the solution that practically everyone used both in the Sprint and in the long race. As for the soft, we opted for a slightly softer solution, which should give a little more grip, but that's what we tried in Sepang and in Qatar in the winter tests which we call Hard+, which had worked well on both occasions. Despite being a hard compound, it should offer not only greater support, but also a little more grip. The riders liked it and would have wanted it from the first race. but there were technical production times so we couldn't introduce it before this weekend.”

What about the rear though?
“They are the same type of compound as in 2023. A soft and a medium asymmetric, with the right shoulder a little harder. Last year both specifications worked well, but let's say that if there is a temperature above 35 degrees on the asphalt, the medium can have an advantage over the soft. Therefore, I think it will be very important to make a careful evaluation when choosing the rear, because both can be valid solutions for both the Sprint and the long race depending on. what the conditions will be.”

On Monday there will be a day of collective testing on the Andalusian track: will the teams have any new solutions to evaluate?
“We will bring a new medium front compound which, if it gives positive results, will be introduced starting from 2025. However, there will not be the new front construction designed for next year, which we will instead test again in the tests on Monday after the Mugello race. For the rest, in the Jerez test they will have the same allocation as at the weekend.”

Taking a step back to the weekend in Austin, we certainly can't say that we witnessed two boring races, given that in Sunday's, Maverick Vinales went on to win by recovering from 11th place after a bad start…
“Austin was a spectacular race, I hadn't remembered such a good one in a while. There were many overtakings and the leadership changed several times, both in terms of riders and bikes. From a spectacle point of view so it was super positive and we can say that it also went well in terms of the tyres: both the front and the rear both the medium and the soft performed well, despite the track not having a homogeneous level of grip, because there some sections were resurfaced and others had bumps that ended up breaking down the bike. But Austin is never an easy track to interpret.”

Going into more specifics, what can you tell us about the information you have collected on the tyres?
“As for the Sprint, everyone used the medium in front and the soft in the back, but not everyone had managed to set up the bike, so some suffered a drop in the front tire and others in the rear, but this is due to the set-ups which in some cases were still a bit approximate. In the long race however, let's say that in general there was a step forward in the setup. Most of the riders confirmed the choice of Sprint, while eight did opted for the medium on the rear. The performances were very good, because we broke all the records of the Texan track: the pole was faster by one second compared to last year and the race time was lowered by five seconds. The fastest lap was also adjusted by half a second and Vinales did it on lap 14.”

As you explained to us before, in the long race there were different choices regarding the rear. The first two were average, do you think this made the difference?
“There was a bit of discussion about which was the best solution between the soft and the medium. It's true that the first two, Vinales and Acosta, had the latter, but I don't think that the choice was the decisive factor. Let's say that both solutions worked well, but with the soft one a truly perfect set-up was needed to bring it to the end with a constant performance. The medium one, on the other hand, also forgave some errors and allowed you to push a little more”.

If he had the soft instead of medium, do you think Vinales would have been able to make the same comeback?
“Honestly, I don't think so. Having started badly, he found himself a little behind and with the medium he was able to push from the start. The soft, however, perhaps would have ruined him earlier and it would have been more difficult to complete the comeback. Then there was another problem related to the soft: if the setup wasn't perfect, the extragrip could push on the front tire, generating understeer which ended up putting it under stress. Having less grip, the medium tire instead perhaps made it possible to have a bike more balanced, helping those who chose it especially at distance”.

A new “alien” appears to have landed on the MotoGP planet called Pedro Acosta, who finished second in Austin. We saw him do some things under braking that make us think that he has already found an incredible feeling with the front tyre. Have you already understood what his secret is?
“At the moment it's still a little difficult for me to say it, because we don't have a lot of data available. However, it's undeniable that he has a natural gift, which allows him to feel the bike and the tyre. This allows him to adapt a lot well under the conditions, even better than the more experienced riders, even though he has only done three races in MotoGP so far. It's true that when you see him riding he gives the sensation of being able to put the bike where he wants and makes it turn in really tight spaces. as perhaps many others are unable to do. From a technical point of view, as I was saying, I haven't had the opportunity to look at the data too much yet and I'm not even going to disturb him too much, because he already has a lot of pressure on him for being a rookie, so I won't. I want to add more to him. The only thing that is certain is that we are talking about a boy who has a gift.”