Yokohama respond after Nürburgring tyre failures

Yokohama have responded to criticism from a number of drivers after a series of punctures on Saturday, with Tiago Monteiro’s costing him the lead of the championship, and for Volvo’s Néstor Girolami, possibly costing him any hope of the championship.

There were four punctures during the day’s two races, with Monteiro and Girolami’s failures coming on the final lap of the first race. There were two punctures in the supporting ETCC race as well, with both championship leader Christjohannes Schreiber out in Race 1, while team-mate Peter Rikli lost out on a potential victory in Race 2.

“In Free Practice 1 there were some problems,” said Yokohama technical consultant Ian Beveridge to TouringCarTimes. “We then discussed that with the teams and they made some adjustments, and in Free Practice 2, it was all OK, but I don’t think anyone did a full race simulation.

“Then we came to race day, and the circumstances changed slightly more as we had hotter conditions, so the target’s moved again. We only come here once a year, so it’s a unique set of circumstances which we try to manage with the teams.

“All of us, the teams as well, are still learning. There are so many things that can catch the cars and the tyres out here; kerbs, rough parts, lots of compressions with the aero, long, long fast straights, which just produce a set of circumstances.

“I think we have a better understanding of what to do now. We’ve worked hard in the background to eliminate all these glitches, but we’re not always successful.”

Yokohama worked with the teams to provide a set of guidelines for tyre pressures. Although after last year’s race there was some question as to how well these were adhered to, there was no question that the recommendations weren’t followed this year by the teams, with Monteiro remarking they went above and beyond the recommendations.

“We followed all the recommendations and we went a bit safer I think,” said Monteiro to TouringCarTimes. “We’re 100% sure we went over and above their recommendation, as we were already running their recommendation when Norbi (Michelisz) had his puncture on Thursday.

“I don’t understand how a company like this can put drivers at danger like this every year. It’s the third time we’ve come here, OK, last year was worse, but it’s putting people at risk first of all, and I’ve also damaged badly my championship. It’s really not acceptable at this level.

“Whatever excuses there are…don’t take the kerbs, don’t do that – come on – we are paid to go as fast as possible, that’s our job.”

Volvo’s Néstor Girolami was the other WTCC driver to fail to finish, with the damage to his car so substantial that a Race 2 start was ruled out, with the Argentinian picking up no points at the race, while team-mates Thed Björk and Nicky Catsburg won both races. Girolami’s now 75 points behind new championship leader Catsburg in the standings, with any championship aspirations almost over.

“I’m really disappointed,” said Girolami to TouringCarTimes.

“After the first lap, I didn’t feel anything going wrong. I took care of the tyres, but then on the third lap I had this big puncture with no warning. We have three exactly the same cars with exactly the same set up, so we didn’t expect to have a puncture, so it’s bad luck that it was only me that had a puncture.”

“The two Volvos finishing and one didn’t show it’s so marginal the difference between being safe and not,” continued Yokohama’s Ian Beveridge. “We still don’t have enough information to tell the teams exactly what you have to do.

“As you can imagine, we try and set a set of guidelines, which is normally more pressure to give the tyre more support, but that takes away performance, so they’re reluctant to make any significant changes. I think the more they learn about the circuit, the more they realise they have to make more significant changes.”

Rob Huff was also one of the more vocal drivers after Thursday, when the 2012 champion suffered a blister with his Citroën, which has been potentially viewed as a separate failure to the punctures seen on the Volvos and Hondas during the weekend, calling for action and even a Nürburgring special tyre.

“For me, it’s unacceptable that we get punctures on circuits like this,” said Huff. “There are things we can do as a team, but only so much. There are also things you can do as a driver as well, just avoid the kerbs and be careful on the first lap and bring the tyres up to pressure, but we’re a world championship, and we should be able to do better than this.”

Yokohama explained why there is no Nürburgring special tyre, and also why the pressure recommendations that the teams are given are not mandatory.

“About a special tyre, there’s two reasons,” said Beveridge. “One, we can’t under the regulations, as it’s one tyre by the contract with the championship, so that’s difficult to change. And even if we were to make a harder tyre, you’d lose performance, but in the same way that you’d lose performance by making this tyre run at a safe pressure. If we produced a stronger tyre, they’d just run it at a lower pressure to get the performance back.

“It’s a decision not to make our settings compulsory. Only the FIA can do that really, and we’re reluctant to do that as a championship as we want to keep the sporting element down to the teams.”