Statement regarding the Argentina GP following team meeting
Larry Lawrence | April 2, 2016
Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
This statement from MotoGP concerning the tire situation at the Argentina GP
Following the incident in Saturday’s FP4 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina at Termas de Rio Hondo involving Octo Pramac Yakhnich’s Scott Redding, during which the rear tire suffered a failure on track, specific actions will be taken for Sunday’s race.
Redding’s tire – a medium compound with seven laps on it – is still being examined by Michelin’s technicians to determine the cause of the fault. Until this can be determined, Michelin has decided to withdraw both rear tires on safety grounds, and introduce the extra “special” rear compound brought for such an occasion. Each rider will have four of these rear tires for Sunday.
The reason both current tires must be withdrawn is because they are both of the same construction, meaning that there is a possibility of a similar failure on the harder tire. Michelin’s new rear tire to be introduced from Sunday is of a harder construction, and will cope better with the hard strains and temperatures put through it – albeit at the expense of lap times.
To help teams and riders adapt to this complicated situation, Race Direction has decided to add an additional 30-minute practice session for MotoGP™ to the morning schedule at 9am. After this, the schedule will continue as previously planned. For this additional track time, all riders will have one additional front tire added to their allocation.