Michelin replaces hard front tyre for Portimao MotoGP return

Michelin swaps the disliked asymmetric hard front compound from April's Portimao race with a symmetric version for this weekend's return.
Miguel Oliveira, MotoGP, Portuguese MotoGP 17 April 2021
Miguel Oliveira, MotoGP, Portuguese MotoGP 17 April 2021
© Gold and Goose

Michelin 🌳has changed the hard front tyre option on offer for this weekend's𒅌 penultimate MotoGP round in Portimao, compared to the earlier April event.

That should be good nꦉews for the likes🤡 of KTM's Miguel Oliveira, who dominated last November's inaugural race with a symmetric hard front tyre but – like most of the field – didn't like the asymmetric hard option brought for this April's return.

That prompted Oliveira, who had only qualified tenth, to choose th🐼e medium front. But it soon overheated, resu♓lting in a fall.

Tech3 KTM's Danilo Pet🎐rucci was the only rider to race the asymmetric hard front in April, managing 13th place. The rest, including dominant winner and newly crowned world champion Fabio Quartararo, ran with the me🔯dium (symmetric) front.

“After the emotional rollercoaster of Misano, with its incredible highs and lows, we are now back at the physical ro🌠llercoaster of Portimao with its elevation changes," said Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager.

“The allocation for this race is slightly different to the 🍒previous race back in April.

"We took onboard the feed🎀back from the riders regarding the Hard compound asymmetric front option and have replaced that tyre with a symmetric version to give them improved feedback and confidence when turning into corners."

Riders struggled with feeling during corner entry with the asymmetric tyre, particularly the transi🌠tion from the centre compound when up🐠right to the edge compound as they began to lean.

R𓆏ear tyre choice was evenl🥃y split between the medium and hard (both asymmetric), in April.

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