Indianapolis MotoGP 2014 Tire Analysis
Under dry conditions and high track temperatures at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the Red Bull Indy MotoGP round, Bridgestone reports that tire performance was “exemplary.”
How exemplary? Ten of the 15 riders that finished the 27-lap (nearly 70 miles) race set their fastest laps in the second half.
Leading this group was the young sensation Marc Marquez. The 21-year-old Spaniard has won the opening 10 rounds of 2014 MotoGP. The Repsol Honda RC213V pilot didn’t have a runaway victory at Indy, though.
After a great start, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 rider Valentino Rossi, who won the inaugural Indy MotoGP in 2008, led the opening 10 laps. But Marquez fought his way from fifth to second, in the opening 10 laps, and passed Rossi for the lead on lap 11.
From there, Marquez performed in his usual, championship-winning way; he opened up a gap, eventually finishing Indy MotoGP 1.803 of a second ahead of the other factory Yamaha pilot, Jorge Lorenzo. Rossi would finish third.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez made it ten wins from ten starts in the 2014 MotoGP™ season as the reigning world champion stormed to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Bridgestone, which will withdraw its role of MotoGP spec-tire supplier following 2015, reports that though track temperatures were nearing 120 degrees (F), the hot conditions didn’t have an effect on race-tire choice.
All except two riders selected the medium compound front slick – Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Octo IodaRacing Team’s Danilo Petrucci opting instead for the hard compound front slick.
As for the rear, almost every rider selected a harder rear slick option; hard compound for the Factory Honda and Yamaha, and medium compound for the Ducati and open-class riders, with only GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista breaking the trend by selecting his softer, medium compound rear slick for the race, Bridgestone reports.
With his win, Marquez now has a perfect 250 points – 89 ahead of Pedrosa. Rossi trails in third, 93 points adrift. The series now heads directly to Brno for the Czech Republic Grand Prix.
Hiroshi Yamada, Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department, says “the new layout at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a welcome change and resulted in some great racing (Sunday), but once again Marc was too strong so congratulations to him and Repsol Honda on another emphatic victory.
“The early stages of the race were particularly exciting with many riders on different makes of machine challenging for the race lead, and this bodes well for the rest of the season. I am pleased with how our tires performed at the revised Indianapolis circuit with excellent levels of safety, performance and durability, and I am now looking forward to next week’s Czech Grand Prix as in the past few years we have had some very close races there.”
Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tire Development Department, says “although track temperatures were warmer today there were no surprises with the riders’ race tyre choice, with every rider selecting the tire combination that they preferred during the practice sessions.
“The medium compound front slick was the popular choice all weekend and this was chosen by almost every rider today, while the harder rear slick options were used by all except one rider for the race.
“The majority of the riders managed to set their best lap times in the closing stages and tyre performance was very consistent throughout the twenty-seven laps, so I am happy that our tire allocation proved to be ideally suited to the new Indianapolis MotoGP circuit.”
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda, race winner, says “the race was so hard especially as the track temperature was higher than yesterday so I struggled a bit in the beginning and so I stayed behind Valentino until I felt comfortable with the tires.
“When I felt the front tire was working well I could improve my pace and take the lead and although it was difficult to build a gap, in the end I could take the 25 points.”