YOKOHAMA RECEIVES ACCOLADE FROM GUEST FM DRIVER


Media information: 6 October 2007


Daniil Move, who scored a sensational pole position in only his second Formula Master weekend yesterday at Monza, said the Formula S2000's Yokohama ADVANs are right on the pace compared to his usual World Series by Renault Michelins.

Speaking after setting a time of 1:46.566 at the Italian track, 0.074 ahead of his nearest rival, the Russian racer said he was impressed by the ADVAN's level of grip from the second he got in the car.

"With the World Series tyres, when you go out from the box the tyres have completely no grip," said Move, who drives with Alan Racing. "You have to wait two laps. The Yokohama is taking grip immediately and then it's not losing it.

"Overall, I can say that with these tyres the grip level is perhaps a bit lower but you can control it all the time. With Michelin, the limit is very aggressive. You come on the limit and when you start to slide you lose the car."

Yokohama's Technical Consultant, Ian Beveridge, guesses the difference is down to the way the rubber compound is mixed.

"It's a bit like making a cake, and all the manufacturers achieve it in slightly different ways," he said. "It depends on what ingredients go in there: oils, natural rubbers, synthetic rubbers　etc･･･

And then how you cure the rubber, which means basically how you stabilise it.

"For some soft compounds, the curing process continues when the tyres is run, just by the heat that goes through it, which is what teams are referring to when they talk of heat cycles. Some compounds are very susceptible to that and others aren't.

"The way Yokohama makes their compound means they are more stable after they have been cured so you get less performance drop off. I have to say, the drop off is generally down to the quality of the tyre so Daniil's comments are very encouraging."

FM round 15 will begin at 12:20 today (Saturday) with the second race starting on Sunday at 14:10.