Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/319200
IN THE WIND P32 At the beginning of May 2014 Dorna, in agreement with the FIM, opened a tender for tire manufacturers interested in be- coming Official Tire Supplier to MotoGP. Interested tire manu- facturers were able to request the technical specifications from Dorna's Managing Director Javier Alonso, with three potential tire suppliers initially expressing an interest – before Michelin alone made a formal tender before the May 22 deadline. The next step in the process will be the drawing out of a com- mercial agreement between Dorna and Michelin as Official Tire Supplier, Dorna says, with "Michelin having already clearly proven its technical abilities to re- spond to the needs of a demand- ing Grand Prix racing schedule." Dunlop Motorsport issued a release explaining why it didn't submit a tender to Dorna. "MotoGP continues to be a very strong global event, and we are proud of our long-standing re- lationship with the MotoGP orga- nizers through our continued sup- ply to the FIM Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships," said San- jay Khanna, the managing direc- tor of Dunlop Motorsport and Mo- torcycle EMEA. "Dunlop is in the fortunate position of having many strong partnerships with motor- cycle manufacturers and leading championships around the world. We have taken the decision to fo- cus on developing and supplying tires for these important partners for the immediate future. "We believe our performance in events where there is open- competition between tire manu- facturers, such as road racing and the FIM Endurance World Championship, prove that Dun- lop has the capability to win rac- es at the top-level of motorcycle racing. However, with such a diverse range of racing activities already planned for 2015 and beyond, we have chosen not to tender to be the Official MotoGP supplier on this occasion. We do not rule it out as an opportunity in the future." NO PAIN NO GAIN O livier Pain, the man who finished third in the 2014 Dakar Rally, will be Yamaha's lead rider in the 2015 edition of the world's toughest motorcycle rally with Cyril Despres announcing earlier in the year that he is switching to a rally car for this year's event. Pain will be joined on the team by former Despres support rider Michael Metge. " After successively finishing 28th , 16th , ninth , sixth and third in the Dakar Rally, my new goal is clearly to get my first overall win in 2015," Pain said. "I'm really excited to work on this new project with Yamaha and we are on exactly the same wavelength. Previous years, we only had one or two rallies for our preparation, but during 2014 we will race four events and these tests will allow us to complete our physi- cal preparation and refine our technical choices on the bike. We hope to eliminate problems that may arise due to the heat and altitude, and increase the speed while retaining the reliability of the 450F in Rally ver- sion which was our biggest asset during the last Dakar. "To win a race like Dakar, the real target of our sports program, every detail, even the tiniest one, must be tuned in. Concerning my prepara- tion, I'm not going to change everything but will work on all aspects in a more professional approach. I'm not ending my job in the family busi- ness as I want to keep the same life balance that makes me happy, but I open a new chapter in my career with the target to win." Oliver Pain is hoping to bring Yamaha success in the 2015 Dakar Rally.