After a seven-year absence from the discipline, Michelin is to return as official tyre supplier to the MotoGP World Championship for three years beginning in 2016.
MotoGP’s promoter DORNA Sports today confirmed that Michelin has been named as the championship’s official tyre supplier to the championship from 2016.
After 36 seasons in the competition, Michelin withdrew at the end of 2008. However, the innovative technologies it introduced over a period of almost four decades helped its partners to claim an impressive list of successes.
The French firm’s first GP 500 victory came on 8 June, 1973, with Jack Findlay (Suzuki), winner of that year’s Tourist Trophy in the Isle of Man, then home of the British Grand Prix. Findlay was also the first rider to test Michelin’s new slick technology. In 1976, Barry Sheene (Suzuki) earned his first world title using slick tyres, while Randy Mamola secured the first race win with Michelin’s new radial technology in Italy in 1984.
The French firm has won 26 world titles and 360 race wins in motorcycle racing’s premier competition.
