PRESS INFORMATION

MICHELIN SEES ITS TYRES SET NEW RECORDS AS VINALES TAKES VICTORY

Michelin witnessed its range of MotoGP™ tyres produce impressive lap-times and consistent performance in The Netherlands this weekend as Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) took victory in the Motul TT Assen making him the fifth race winner this season from eight events.

From Friday onwards the MICHELIN Power Slick tyres produced very fast lap-times as the riders improved the settings to their respective machines. With track conditions continuing to improve, lap- times reduced throughout Friday and Saturday, resulting in the outright lap-record being broken four- times in the qualifying session. The final fastest circulation was recorded by (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as he set a time of 1’32.017, more than six-tenths-of-a-second better than the existing record, in the process the Frenchman also became the youngest rider to set back-to-back Pole Positions.

During the weekend, temperatures had risen, but as the race arrived light cloud cover brought the asphalt down to 44°C and strong winds made conditions quite different from anything the riders had encountered all weekend. The choice of MICHELIN Power Slick tyres was an important factor and led to all six compounds being used for the race, as the riders looked to get the ideal grip from the 4,542m circuit. Quatararo started from , but Alex Rins (Team ECSTAR) got the holeshot and led for the initial stages, before he made a mistake while pushing at the front and crashed. The race then progressed, with Quartararo, Marc Marquez (Repsol Team) and Viñales all taking turns at the front. The battle between the three raged for a large part of the race, before Viñales - using a medium front and hard rear combination - made a decisive move on lap-16 and pulled away to take victory with a race-time that was over 18-seconds quicker than last year’s event. Marquez - using a medium front combined with a soft rear – produced the of the race on the fourth circulation and came home second to strengthen his championship lead. Quartararo was third, as his MICHELIN Power Slick pairing of a medium front and hard rear also gave him the position of First Independent Rider and increased his lead in the Rookie and Independent Rider classifications.

A big race-day crowd of 105,000 also witnessed many battles throughout the field, (Ducati Team) - who broke the record for highest top speed recorded during the weekend - came fourth, with (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in fifth and (Ducati Team) sixth. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) got the better of Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) on the penultimate lap, as the pair finished seventh and eighth respectively. Jack Miller () was ninth and (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) finished in 10th, to record his best result so far in his debut season for the Italian marque.

Michelin and the MotoGP paddock now take the short journey across Europe for next weekend’s German Grand Prix at , where MotoGP will be joined on the calendar by the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Cup Grand Prix, when electric bikes - fully-equipped with Michelin tyres - compete in the inaugural Grand Prix for this new class.

Tim Walpole – [email protected] – Phone: +44.7976.397.265 Alessandro Barlozzi – [email protected] – Phone: +33.6.42.23.55.93

Maverick Viñales – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP:

“I’m really happy because we have been working very hard with the tyres and they worked extremely good for us this weekend. In Montmelo we found a way to make them work better for us and we worked very hard with Michelin to find out which was the best one for today’s race. I worked strong with Pascal - my Michelin technician - all weekend and I want to say thank-you because the choice was the correct one. We found a way to make the hard rear perform really good for us, so I want to say thank-you to Michelin because they always provide tyres that work the best.”

Piero Taramasso – Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager:

“This has been a very good weekend for us as the performance, grip and durability was at the forefront all the time. We set very fast times and broke the outright lap record more than once and if the weather hadn’t been different today I am sure we would have seen more records broken. All six compounds were used, which is again a testament to making tyres that all can use. Maverick became the fifth winner of the season from the fourth different manufacturer, this again reiterates our intention of producing tyres for all bikes to give them the chance of the best performance. We now head to Germany and Sachsenring, which can be a very demanding track, both from a layout and weather point of view, we will also see the first running of the MotoE Grand Prix, so that gives us another new challenge and one we are looking forward to taking.”

Tim Walpole – [email protected] – Phone: +44.7976.397.265 Alessandro Barlozzi – [email protected] – Phone: +33.6.42.23.55.93