Dunlop Moto2 and Moto3 InFocus: May

The 2017 FIM Moto2™ and Moto3™ World Championships continues in Europe with round five at Le Mans in France on 21 May. Dunlop has experience of the newly surfaced track after winning the 24h Moto race last month with GMT94 Yamaha. Dunlop found the new track surface to be more abrasive than usual so the Dunlop engineers have elected to take harder compound rear tyres. Two weeks later the riders head to Mugello in Italy for round six on 4 June. Here the races have always proved incredibly close-fought, with expectations the same for 2017.

April Recap – Hat-trick for Morbidelli and lap records broken in COTA and Jerez

After breaking into the winner’s circle with his first Moto2 win in Qatar, Franco Morbidelli proceeded to take two further wins in Argentina and America, securing a new lap record at COTA on the way. In Spain, honours went the way of Alex Marquez who also broke the existing lap record set in 2015 by 0.25sec.

In Moto3 Joan Mir continued his winning ways in Argentina, with his second successive win, from John McPhee and Jorge Martin, the first time that the harder compound tyre has filled the podium places. America’s Moto3 race was red-flagged after two laps when Aron Canet crashed out, and Romano Fenati romped to a comfortable 4.5 second win. Canet bounced back with a win in Spain, but the unseasonably high temperatures left the track greasy.

#ForeverForward 2017

The opening rounds have seen plenty of overtaking and opportunities for riders to demonstrate their talent and ability to progress through the races. After four rounds of Dunlop’s #ForeverForward competition, where points are awarded for every place gain, it’s Moto3 rider Nakarin Atiratphuvapat who holds a one point advantage over Jules Danilo, with the top eight covered by just seven points. Joan Mir and Brad Binder shared the honours with 15 place gains in the Moto3 race in Argentina. In America it was Luca Marini who made the most improvement with 13 places in Moto2, while in Spain Moto2 rider Yonny Hernandez topped the #FF table after a 13 place improvement.

#ForeverForward after round four:

The full #ForeverForward table can be seen here​​.

Round 5: Le Mans – 21st May 2017

The Le Mans track has been resurfaced since the last race in 2016
24 Hours Moto race experience of new track a bonus for Dunlop engineers
As a result the Dunlop engineers have elected to take the harder compound rear tyres

Le Mans Track Facts:

• Length: 4.2km
• Left Turns: 5
• Right Turns: 9
• Energy level: Mid/High
• Left:right bias: 40% / 60%

Tyre Allocation Le Mans:
Moto2  

Front: Medium ’2’ (black on silver)
Rear: Medium ’3’ (fluorescent yellow on black) / Hard ’4’ (fluorescent white on black)

Moto3
​Front: Soft (black on yellow) / Medium ‘M’ (black on silver)
Rear: Soft ’S1’ (black on yellow) / Hard ‘H3’ (fluorescent yellow on black)

Le Mans 2016 Highlights

• Thomas Luthi set a new Moto2 pole record on the new rear option tyre
• The top three Moto2 riders were under the previous pole record
• All Moto2 rider selected the new tyre for the race as a result, with just 0.4 second difference in lap times after 25 laps
• Moto3 lap times in qualifying were extremely close, with one second veering the top 23 riders
• This continued into the race, the top four separated by just 1.3 seconds

Round 6: Mugello – 4th June 2017

Mugello Track Facts:

• Length: 5.2km
• Left Turns: 6
• Right Turns: 9
• Energy level: Mid/High
• Left:right bias: 40% / 60%

Tyre Allocation Mugello:

Moto2  
​Front: Medium ’2’ (black on silver)
Rear: Soft ’1’ (fluorescent green on black) / Medium ’3’ (fluorescent yellow on black)

Moto3
​Front: Soft ‘S’ (black on yellow) / Medium ‘M’ (black on silver)
Rear: Soft ’S1’ (black on yellow) / Medium ‘M1’ (black on silver)

Mugello 2016 Highlights

• Moto2 qualifying saw 28 riders covered by one second
• 2015 Moto2 Champion Johann Zarco took his second victory after a close-fought six-way battle
• Romano Fenati claimed his third Moto3 pole spot, one second under the lap record
• Brad Binder took a third consecutive win in Moto3 as his two rivals crashed out
• Red Bull Rookie runner-up Fabio Giannantonio took his first Moto3 points
• In Moto3 the first five were covered by just 0.077s

2017 Tyre Specifications

The 2017 specification tyres remain similar to last season, utilising the No.2 fronts in Moto2, and with several options for the rears, each carefully selected by the experienced Dunlop engineers to cater for the demands of the different tracks and surfaces. Moto3 equally will feature the same tyres that were successfully used last year, all of which offer increased durability for the ultra-competitive lightweight class.