MotoGP | Taramasso: “The key in Barcelona is to manage spinning”

Even though we are only at the sixth race of the season, MotoGP may already have reached a turning point. Over the next two weeks the most important scenarios for the drivers’ market could be outlined in view of 2025, but in the meantime there will also be two “back to back” Grands Prix which could tell us more about what awaits us from here to Valencia . We begin this weekend in Barcelona, ​​on a technical track full of pitfalls, especially from the tire point of view, to which the Michelin manager, Piero Taramasso, introduced us.

“Barcelona is a circuit that usually puts us in a bit of difficulty, because it is known that there is an asphalt that offers little grip. It is a very smooth surface, which tends to cause the grip to decrease from year to year, generating a lot of spinning. Even on the straight there is a strong tendency to skate, so it is essential to find a good setting in terms of electronics, in particular the traction control”, Taramasso told Motorsport.com.

“But also perhaps reduce the power, finding the right compromise to be able to exploit it and have traction instead of generating spinning. Also because once it starts, it tends to overheat the tyre, making it lose grip, so the key is precisely to try to contain spinning. The weather conditions should then be good, with temperatures around 25 degrees, so just over 30 on the asphalt”, he added.

Given these aspects, what kind of choices did you make for the Catalan Grand Prix?
“We confirmed the same centering as last year with regards to rigidity, however comparing it to the 2024 compounds. The three previous solutions are symmetrical, with the medium being the one that worked best last year, having been the choice both for the Sprint for Sunday’s race. If I have to make a prediction, I think that the direction will be that again this year, even if as a hard option we will introduce the hard+, a solution already validated during the winter which we also brought to Jerez. , but which wasn’t used because it wasn’t hot enough. We also confirmed the 2023 stiffness levels for the rear, taking into account that the soft was chosen for the Sprint and the medium for the GP. A trend that I expect to see again because it is true that the soft guarantees more grip on both sides, but it can trigger spinning first and therefore also generate more movements on the bike”.

Among other things, in Barcelona we often witnessed rather tactical matches, in which it is essential to choose the right moment in which to attack…
“It’s a very technical, difficult circuit, which puts stress on both the front and rear tyres, with this lack of grip which further complicates things, so it’s normal for the riders to have a sort of waiting phase in the first few laps to understand how the behavior evolves. This year too I think we will see a study phase at the beginning before getting into the heart of the race. Then we must not forget that Barcelona is a fairly asymmetrical circuit and that particular attention must be paid in the race also at turn 2, because it is the first on the left after four right turns and a long straight which tends to cool the tire”.

Let’s take a step back to the French Grand Prix, in which we witnessed an all-Ducati family duel, in which in the end Jorge Martin prevailed over Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia…
“Le Mans, being the Michelin Grand Prix, was particularly important for us, but everything worked out for the best, starting from the perfect weather conditions, almost unusual for this race. The asphalt temperature was around 45 degrees in the Sprint and around 40 degrees in the long race on Sunday. We saw a good race, with lots of overtaking, which is usually difficult to see in Le Mans, as it is a fairly narrow track. What made everything even more special was that the great turnout of the public, with a record of almost 300,000 attendees over the course of the weekend. And it was impressive to see how many people had already been there since Thursday, both in the stands and in the paddock.”

What kind of information have you been able to gather about the tyres?
“The options we brought to the front all three worked well, even if the choice that was favored by the riders was that of the hard one for the two races. I believe that the two rear solutions were also well centered, but the the soft offered more performance and more grip, and it also didn’t tend to drop. But that’s a bit of a characteristic of the circuit, which isn’t very abrasive, and the soft was in fact chosen by everyone on both Saturday and Sunday softer of our entire range, amazed by the consistency of performance. And I must say that the drivers and teams also seemed satisfied with how things went.”

It is no coincidence that all the previous records of the Bugatti Circuit have been shattered…
“In qualifying, Martin beat the previous track record, which was set in 2022, by around half a second. The consistency of the soft tire is confirmed by the fact that Bastianini broke the race record on the 23rd of the 27 scheduled laps, and also in this case there was an improvement of six tenths. Finally, the duration of the race was reduced by 10 seconds compared to the previous record”.

This weekend the MotoE will also be back on the track: in terms of tyres, is there anything particularly interesting to point out?
“Barcelona will host the third round and the peculiarity is that for the front we bring a specific tire for this track, which is a little stiffer than the one we use on all the other circuits, as we already did last year It had performed well, offering more support especially during braking, so we decided to bring it back.”