Races faster than two weeks ago and new race lap records at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli

Close and heated races, records, and all compounds protagonists
 
“As happened already two weeks ago, today we once again saw two fantastic races, extremely heated with constant overtaking, and tyre performance also contributed to this show, performing extremely consistently from start to finish, as is also demonstrated by the Moto3™ race lap record, set well after the mid-race point. All this in spite of rather low track temperatures, especially in Moto3™, and therefore not optimum. In Moto2™, the new rear development solution in D0640 specification proved to be the predominant choice, not only for the race, but throughout the weekend, thereby confirming the outstanding results demonstrated in the last GP. It is a popular tyre with practically all the riders because, compared with the standard soft SC0, they find it to be more consistent and capable of ensuring a bit more grip. Despite all this, we should point out that Vietti won and set the new race lap record using the standard SC0, so the tyres are quite close in terms of performance levels. Anyway, we will be able to assess the new specification in other settings as well. With respect to the intermediate class, tyre choices in Moto3™ always vary much more, but the compounds, as the different choices made by the three riders on the podium demonstrate, are all equally high performance. Considering the results in terms of a new race lap record and an improvement of the total race time compared with two weeks ago, we can also say that there is still unexplored potential and therefore margin to exploit the performance of our tyres even better.”

Moto2™

· As had already happened two weeks ago, tyre choice for the race was practically unanimous: everyone opted for the soft SC1 at the front and for the new development D0640 SC0 at the rear. The only rider to go against the trend was Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex), who preferred the standard SC0.

· Precisely Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo/Kalex), the only rider on the standard SC0 rear, won the race, capitalising on a mistake by Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/Kalex) on the final lap. On his fourth time around the track, Vietti also set the new race lap record with a time of 1’35.468, breaking the one set by Alonso Lopez in the last GP by a full half second.

· The race, which lasted a total of 35’14.240, was over 12 seconds faster than two weeks ago (35’26.583) with an average improvement per lap of almost 6 tenths of a second.

Moto3™

· Tyre choice for the Moto3™ race, held over a distance of 20 laps and with 22°C asphalt temperature, was more varied than the almost unanimous Moto2™ race. At the front, 18 out of 25 riders used the soft SC1, with the rest opting for the medium SC2. At the rear, the soft SC1 was also the favourite among the riders, with 16 of them choosing it and the remaining 9 opting for the SC2.

· Where race winner David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team/CFMOTO) used the medium SC2 front and soft SC1 rear, the other riders on the podium made different choices: Ángel Piqueras (Leopard Racing/Honda) chose the soft front and the medium rear, whereas Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP/Husqvarna) mounted the soft SC1 on both axles.
 
· Dutch rider Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP/Husqvarna), with soft SC1 tyres at both the front and rear, set the new race lap record with a time of 1’40.629 on the thirteenth lap, breaking the one Ángel Piqueras set just two weeks ago (1’40.856) – in that case with a medium SC2 rear – by more than 2 tenths. During the race, a total of 6 riders dropped below the previous lap record.
 
· The race, which ended at 33’53.212, was almost 10 faster than the one held two weeks ago (34’02.766), for an average improvement per lap of about a half a second.