MotoGP Travels to Sepang for Penultimate Season Meeting

Unlike in previous years, MotoGP will go into the Malaysia Grand Prix without prior knowledge of the destination of this year’s Championship Title. While the eventual winner will almost certainly be Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, every rider will see the meeting as a chance to make an impression on the circuit at Sepang, which has the longest lap of any MotoGP circuit at 5.548km and is characterised by two long straights preceded by slow corners. Good grip on corner exit is crucial to maximise speed along each straight, and with the temperature generally the highest of any race on the calendar (often up to 50 degrees Celsius) focus, concentration and rubber will all be tested to the limit, making the Grand Prix a challenging one for tyre supplier Bridgestone too.

The tyre-maker points out that the circuit features five left- and ten right-handers, and the loads and stresses are focused upon the front tyre rather than the rear. There are many areas of heavy braking from high speed which also load the front tyres, so harder compounds have been selected to cope with the pressure. Bridgestone had a good record at Sepang in the years before the move to a single tyre-provider was made: Loris Capirossi took victory in 2005 followed by Casey Stoner in 2007, both for the Ducati Team on Bridgestone rubber.

Hiroshi Yamada, manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department states, “It was at the Malaysian Grand Prix last year that the announcement was made that Bridgestone would be the Official Tyre Supplier to MotoGP, and I am proud of what we have achieved since then. To come back to Malaysia as we near the end of our first year of sole supply and see the championship title still not decided is a good thing and I think shows how close the competition has been at the front this season.”

Tohru Ubukata, manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department: “Sepang is a good challenge for our tyres because it is the longest circuit on the calendar and it is often the hottest with track temperatures over 50 degrees Celsius not uncommon. The two long straights really test engine power, but they also demand good shoulder grip from the rear tyres on the exit of the last two corners to maximise straight-line speed, and good braking performance at the end of each as riders decelerate from over 300 km/h to around just 80km/h. We can afford to choose softer compound rear tyres here to maximise shoulder grip, because the loads throughout the lap are focused on the front tyre, which consequently needs to be harder. Normally when bikes are upright along straights, the lateral loads on the tyres are minimal and air-flow is maximised so there is a greater cooling effect, but at Sepang the track temperature itself and the heavy braking at the end of those straights when the bikes are still upright can actually generate significant temperature in the centre of the tyre, so durability of this centre section is a key consideration here.”