With the 4th round of the season, the Spanish GP, MotoGP returns to Europe and will remain there until the end of summer.
As tradition goes, the Circuito de Jerez is the first of the four Spanish tracks on the calendar and also the one that has been used the longest: the first edition dates back to 1987, a decade before the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and the Circuit de Ricardo Tormo. A total of 40 World Championship GPs have been held in Jerez.
GP Data
According to Brembo engineers, who for the 11th consecutive year work closely with all MotoGP teams, the 4.423 km long Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto falls into the category of highly demanding circuits for brakes. On a scale from 1 to 6, it has earned a difficulty index of 4 thanks to the 11 braking sections per lap, totaling 33 and a half seconds, equivalent to 35 percent of the race. Three braking sections are categorized as High, 4 as Medium, and another 4 as Light. Decelerations range from 0.5 to 1.5 g depending on the curves.
The hardest corner
The hardest corner of the Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto for the braking system is Turn 6, named after Dani Pedrosa: MotoGP bikes go from 295 km/h to 69 km/h thanks to a 5.4-second braking phase, one of the 10 longest in the World Championship in terms of time. Riders apply a load of 6 kg on the Brembo brake lever, experiencing a deceleration of 1.5 g while covering 254 meters, and the braking system pressure reaches 12.9 bar.
The debut of the radial caliper
In February 1998, the Jerez track hosted private tests for the Aprilia 250. On that occasion, the Brembo radial-mounted caliper, the first ever created in the world, made its debut on Marcellino Lucchi's RSV 250. The feedback was immediately positive, so much so that in the following days, the testing also involved Loris Capirossi and Tetsuya, riders from the official team, as well as Valentino Rossi, representing the customer team but within the official Aprilia structure.
The advantages of the radial one
All the riders realized that the new technical solution provided them with greater sensitivity during braking, thanks to the increased stiffness of the caliper. Compared to the axially mounted calipers that were the standard, the resistance to torque is significantly higher, minimizing elastic deformations. The advantages in terms of performance as well as feel were enormous, and shortly thereafter Brembo began producing radial calipers for the premier class, the then 500, setting the new standard for the years to come.
Loris in the lead
Twenty years ago, in 2006, the World Championship kicked off in Jerez: Ducati achieved a one-two in qualifying with Loris Capirossi on pole, 221 milliseconds ahead of Sete Gibernau and 462 milliseconds ahead of the first Kawasaki. Capirossi maintained the lead at the start and stayed in command until the chequered flag, finishing 4 seconds ahead of the second place. Equipped with 320 mm carbon Brembo discs, the Desmosedici GP6 seemed ready to claim the title, but it had to wait until 2007 and the arrival of Casey Stoner to secure its first World Championship.