MICHELIN to be MotoGP supplier in 2016.. follow up to Bridgesone bowing out..

http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/204751/1/michelin-named-new-motogp-tyre-supplier.html

Michelin is to take over as MotoGP's Official Tyre Supplier from 2016.

The French manufacturer will thus return to MotoGP for the first time since 2008, the final season of open tyre competition.

Current exclusive tyre supplier Bridgestone recently announced that it would cease its role at the end of next year, prompting Dorna to open a tender for those interested in taking over.

"Interested tyre manufacturers were able to request the technical specifications from Dorna's Managing Director Javier Alonso, with three potential tyre suppliers initially expressing an interest – before Michelin alone made a formal tender before the 22nd May deadline," declared a Dorna statement.

"The next step in the process will be the drawing out of a commercial agreement between Dorna and Michelin as Official Tyre Supplier, Michelin having already clearly proven its technical abilities to respond to the needs of a demanding Grand Prix racing schedule."

Michelin won 26 500cc/MotoGP titles from 1976-2006 but then suffered a rapid decline in the face of growing Bridgestone opposition.

The Japanese manufacturer - which entered MotoGP in 2002 and won its first races in 2004 - took a debut MotoGP title with Ducati's Casey Stoner in 2007, repeating the feat with Yamaha's Valentino Rossi in 2008.

By that time only six riders remained with Michelin - Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa even negotiating a move to Bridgestone mid-way through the season.

The single tyre era began with Bridgestone the following year, with Michelin having elected not to submit a bid.

"The MotoGP Championship organisers have decided to use a single tyre supplier for the coming seasons, which effectively eliminates the competitive environment that has led to so much progress," a Michelin statement explained at the time.

Despite its previous stance, Michelin soon became favourite to take over the 2016 tyre supply once Bridgestone's departure was announced.

 

Did Maxxis submit a bid?

 

M-O-O-N, that spells repost.

 

hope not a repost.. i looked , i really really did.

 

yes, only slightly outbid by Shinko so didn't make the final round.

 

Haha! It's in the Motogp Bridgestone pulling out thread.

 

well.. um.. (crap)


(ah-ha).. this deserved a thread of it's own. I can not allow this sort of "BOOM" news to be overshadowed by the Bridgestone news
Or just delete this thread.

 

Meh. Michelin US can eat my shorts.

 

blasphemy !

lol

 

Curious if this will lead to a new generation of 16.5s?

 

Curious how much kickback Melka gets for spamming the board with his Michelin love.

 

Shut it Matt, I'm getting snow tires out of of the deal.

 

Greg is a shill for Michelin, no way he could pass up the chance to flaunt this lol.

:FL:

 

As Bullet Tooth Tony said in "Lock Stock and Two smoking Barrels".. "the opportunity presented itself.. you take it "

wish i had a dime for every post i made, and you would think i sold em but i don't !

Michelin had been the high bid to be the AMA spec tire, but as I have been told, all the R&D was in the 16.5" they had at the time. AMA decided to go 17" slicks for superbike during this time, and Michelin pulled the bid as they would need more than the 6 month window remaining before the season was to start to develop and make em to spec.
I have not heard if it will go to 16, 16.5 or 17 .. will see ! Pretty sure the awesome stuff used i the CEV and World Endurance is 17" slicks ?

 

I've heard that they'd been testing both 16 and 16.5's in advance of the bid, not sure which is true. Not sure MotoGP tires would be helpful to us slow hacks, but it would be nice to have some newer tires available and more than one choice.

 

I had heard that even though they(Michelin) were the high bidder, AMA gave it to Dunpop anyways. Of course unless one of us was in the meeting, it's all second hand knowledge.

 

Can't disagree 100%, we were not there.. but I do think the michelin insiders I was getting some news from would have been grumbling about being told "Sorry.. we would like more money but are taking Dunlop's bid cause we like them better and don't need the money". I never heard anyone complaining about preferential treatment. But here is what i am pretty sure about. Michelin pulled it's bid PRIOR to Dunlop being awarded the deal and any press release naming Dunlop as the AMA spec tire.. And the reason i heard was what i posted. That the decision had been made by AMA after bids were submitted (over $1mill by the way was winning bid) that 17" slicks were to be the superbike tire. At that point, Michelin wouldn't be able to R&D and have ready those size slicks and thus pulled their bid which up to that point, was the high bid ..

We have to agree that AMA did go with 17" slicks for superbike from the 16.5" that had been used up till the time of the spec tire decision. And, the GOOD michelin slick at the time was a 16.5" ..

i suspect being a spec tire vendor in any series is a massive business undertaking. Aside from the layout of cash to bid as a spec tire supplier, you have the commitment of providing a tire that will work at all the circuits, with the variety of bikes and riders, and getting them to all these events.

 

dang it .. that was to be our lil' secret !

 

Everyone knows being a shill for Michelin is far less noble than being a shill for Suzuki.

 

Steeltoe, you gonna stand for this??!!