Michelin Announces Participation in 3 Motorcycle Championships

Michelin has announced its participation in three motorcycle speedway racing competitions in 2009 – the Endurance World Championship, along with national speed championships in Spain and Italy.

This year, Michelin will provide tyres for the Yamaha Austria Racing Team, which finished second over all in the six-race 2008 Endurance World Championship. The partnership, says Michelin, will enable the company to measures its tyres against its competitors’ products. And while this is Michelin’s main reason for taking part in the competition, it comments that racing also serves as an important testing ground for developing tyres for the consumer market. With this in mind the company will enter – for the first time ever – a motorcycle displaying its own colours in all Endurance World Championship events. The Michelin Power Research Team, with riders William Costes, Hugo Marchand and Josep Monge, will focus on gathering technical data to be used in designing the brand’s future motorcycle tyres.

As part of its new approach to motorcycle speedway racing, Michelin will also participate in national speed championships in Spain and Italy. The company says it sees the opportunity of competing with other tyre manufacturers in these very demanding events as a way to drive new innovations.