Longueur: 5.902 m. / 3,667 miles
Largeur: 17m
Virages à gauche: 8
Virages à droite: 10
Ligne droite 800 m. / 0,497 miles
Le point sur les motos après les 5 premières courses:
Honda FTR - Sans doute la meilleure moto actuelle. Pas la plus puissante mais la plus homogène en moteur et partie cycle.
Honda Suter - La moto est bien née mais les pilotes ont du mal à concrétiser pour la victoire.
KTM - Le moteur le plus puissant mais aussi le plus pointu et le plus difficile à exploiter. Le châssis Kalex semble assez honnête alors que le cadre tubulaire officielle (déjà changé) semble poser plus de problèmes.
Honda - Alexis Masbou prouve que la moto n'est pas mal née, bien au contriare.
Honda TSR - Une bonne vitesse de pointe.
Oral - Déficit de puissance. Des améliorations sont annoncées (mais pas prouvées).
Ioda - Gros problèmes moteur, en puissance et en fiabilité.
- Wild cards : les deux pilotes du KRP (“Keen Race Preparation”) Racing Steps Foundation,
John McPhee et
Fraser Rogers, sur Honda KRP M3-01.
- L'année dernière, c'était Simon et Suofoglu qui étaient convoqués par la Direction de course.Cette année, c'est au tour de
Marquez et
Pol Espargaro, le vendredi...
- Nouvelles couleurs pour
Johann Zarco (Bêta). Arrivée dans le team Motobi / TSR JiR de
Eric Granado, trop jeune pour pouvoir commencer la saison de GP avant son 16ème anniversaire.
- Wild card :
Alessandro Andreozzi, champion d'Italie, sur FTR Honda.
- Après Stoner retraité et Lorenzo confirmé, la place vacante au HRC devrait motiver beaucoup de pilotes...
-
Pedrosa, absent l'année dernière à cause de sa clavicule, n'a roulé qu'une fois ici.
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium-Soft, Medium (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative)
Silverstone is fast and susceptible to cold weather making it one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar in terms of tyre development. The high-speed sections of the circuit require good tyre stability for cornering and braking, while the generally chilly conditions make excellent warm-up performance a necessity.
Having analysed tyre data from the last two races at Silverstone, Bridgestone has revised the compounds in its asymmetric rear tyres for this weekend. The two slick rear tyres offered will be the medium-soft and medium options, with both tyres featuring the same medium rubber compound on the right shoulder combined with a choice of either the extra-soft or soft rubber on the left shoulder of the tyre. This change has been made to enhance rider safety by ensuring the rear tyre stays in its ideal temperature range over the course of a lap.
Bridgestone’s new specification front slick tyre, which was first introduced at Jerez, becomes the standard front offering from Silverstone onwards and will now comprise each rider’s full allocation of nine front slick tyres for a race weekend. For this race, the front slicks will be available in the soft and medium compounds to ensure the best initial grip and feel in the expected cool conditions.
Hiroshi Yamada - Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“I am happy to be visiting Silverstone once again as the circuit is fast and technical, the facilities are excellent and the British fans are always very passionate. With Cal Crutchlow doing so well this season I expect even greater home support and as we had very wet conditions at Silverstone last year, I hope we get fine weather this weekend and get to enjoy yet another exciting race!
“This race is always a challenge for tyres with its high speeds and cold conditions and so we have undertaken considerable tyre development leading up to this year’s British Grand Prix. The new specification front slick tyre becomes the standard front offering from this round onwards and at Silverstone will be available in the soft and medium compounds, while we have also revised the composition of our asymmetric rear slick tyres for this race compared to previous years. Both these developments are prime examples of Bridgestone’s commitment to constantly exploring ways to improve rider safety.”
Shinji Aoki - Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Silverstone presents a balancing act when it comes to tyre development. On the one hand the fast sections like Maggotts and Becketts place high lateral loads on tyres and the heavy braking at the end of the Hangar Straight generates considerable stress on the centre section of the front tyre requiring good tyre stability, while the low average track temperature at Silverstone means superior warm-up performance is also important.
“Our data analysis shows that our soft and medium rubber compounds provide the necessary braking stability and warm-up characteristics needed at Silverstone and so they form the basis of our tyre choices at this circuit. For this year we have revised the composition of our asymmetric rear slicks and will offer the medium-soft and medium options. Both these slicks feature the same medium rubber compound on the right side to provide the necessary durability for the numerous right-hand turns, combined with either the extra-soft or soft rubber on the left shoulder to ensure sufficient temperature retention throughout a whole lap.”
Dunlop comes home to Silverstone
Dunlop’s Moto2 tyres head homewards to the circuit of Silverstone for the sixth round of the Moto2 World Championship – the British Grand Prix – on June 15-17.
Dunlop Motorsport’s Moto2 racing tyres are produced just an hour’s drive away from the 5.91 km Silverstone circuit in Birmingham.
Silverstone Set-up
The inland location, 130km north-west of London, is hosting its third Grand Prix since the British round of the MotoGP World Championship moved to Silverstone from Donington Park. The event takes place on the full Grand Prix circuit which was extensively revised for the arrival of MotoGP.
Dunlop will bring the tyres from the Group C ‘Durability Focused’ range, with the 3855 medium and 3838 hard rear compounds allocated. This is the tyre allocation for circuits with for high wear characteristics.
3855 is a new compound for this season in Moto2 which was debuted successfully in Qatar at the season opener. 3838 is the harder option core compound with high wear resistance with good consistency over race distances. This gives riders the confidence to open the throttle early out of the apex. The season-familiar front allocation of the 717 and 302 compounds will join their rear brothers.
Dunlop’s Moto2 Operations Manager, Clinton Howe:
“Silverstone is a very flat circuit with even forces acting on both sides of the tyre and abrasion levels from the circuit surface are in the middle of the range we experience. It has a relatively high speed layout, and from our personal experience, we know that the UK can serve up a wide range of weather conditions. After it proved successful in Qatar, we are using the new-to-Moto2 3855 medium compound for Silverstone, instead of the previously planned 4886 compound. We saw good results from this compound in Qatar and it has proved very successful in the FIM Endurance World Championship too. As the weather in past years has not been to kind we are still learning about the circuit and surface. Silverstone is one of the longest tracks we visit at almost 6 km long and it has a bit of everything in those 6 km. It’s good to go to a UK circuit with facilities as good as the best around, located in the heart of the England. For all the Dunlop personnel we able to stay in the best hotel around, home.”
Moto3: Danny Webb, Mahindra Racing:
“Silverstone is always a good event, especially as it’s my home race. I will have all my home fans and my family watching so I’m really looking for it. Making the right call on the tyres is always difficult but fortunately we get good advice from the guys from Dunlop. At this stage I’m thinking of a hard compound for the front and a medium on the rear, but this will depend of course how the weather! The Moto3 bikes are a lot of fun and we’re working hard at Mahindra Racing to get to the front of the pack. The Dunlop tyres give you lots of confidence so we’ll keep pushing.”
Moto2 Tyre Allocation Silverstone
Front Moto2 slicks per rider
120/75R17 Moto2
4 x 302
4 x 717
Rear Moto2 slicks per rider
195/75R17 Moto2
5 x 3838 (ATR05)
4 x 3855 (ATR05)
Wet Moto2 tyres per rider
3 x Front 125/80R17 KR191 414 (4 tyres allocated if all practice sessions are wet).
3 x Rear 190/55R17 KR393 414 (4 tyres allocated if all practice sessions are wet).
Moto3
Silverstone: It has everything – fast straights and corners and slow twisty bits
For Silverstone the following Moto3 tyres will be allocated:
Front Moto3 slicks per rider
95/75R17 Moto3
5 x Medium
3 x Hard
Rear Moto3 slicks per rider
115/70R17 Moto3
5 x Medium
4 x Soft
Wet Moto3 tyres per rider
3 x 95/70R17 KR189 WB (4 tyres allocated if all practices are wet).
3 x 115/70R17 KR389 WB (4 tyres allocated if all practices are wet).