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· In the Moto2™ race, won by Daniel Holgado (Kalex) from second on the grid, the tyre choice was unanimous: all the riders used the soft SC1 for the front and the supersoft SCX for the rear, i.e. the softest compounds available to them. Jake Dixon (Boscoscuro), second, and Diogo Moreira (Kalex), third, complete the podium.
· The winner Holgado set the new race record lap in 1’48.739 on the second lap, a time that improves by almost two seconds on that set by Somkiat Chantra in 2023 (1’50.679). All riders lapped below the 2023 race record lap and the pace was also significantly improved: in comparison to the 2023 competition as last year’s one was run in the wet, this year’s race was 29 seconds faster, which translates into a lap improvement of 1.5 seconds.
· David Muñoz (KTM) won the Moto3™ race, run over a distance of 17 laps, from seventh on the grid. The Spaniard preceded two other KTM riders on the finish line, poleman José Antonio Rueda, second, and Máximo Quiles, who from eighth position on the grid closes in third place. All the riders used soft SC1 compound tyres at the rear, while at the front preferences were equally divided between the soft SC1 and the medium SC2, the latter chosen by all the riders on the podium. José Antonio Rueda set the fastest lap of the race in 1’55.305 on lap 15, improving by almost 4 tenths the previous record set by David Alonso last year (1’55.675).
· Both races took place with around 25 degrees Celsius of air temperature and between 35 and 40 degrees of the asphalt, temperatures in line with those of Friday afternoon’s practice.
Convincing performance of Pirelli’s standard tyres at Motegi
“Also here at Motegi we have seen very close races in both classes until the last corners and this shows that the performance of the tyres has been very convincing and consistent throughout the race distance. In particular, in Moto2™ the supersoft SCX rear allowed an improvement in race pace of about 1.5 seconds compared to 2023 (last year we raced in the wet) and Holgado set a new record for fastest lap, improving the previous lap record by almost 2 seconds. A result that highlights how much this compound, used in the right contexts and with the appropriate temperatures, can really make a difference and guarantee that extra grip that riders often need when the grip offered by the asphalt is very poor, as in the case of Motegi. Even in Moto3™, where all the riders used the standard SC1 rear, Rueda improved the fastest race lap by almost 4 tenths. It should be noted that all the tyres in action this weekend are strictly standard ones: this means that any motorcyclist can regularly buy them and mount them on his bike to ride on the track and participate in a track day. Having archived this GP with satisfaction, we now move to the island of Lombok where the Indonesian Grand Prix will be held next weekend”. |
