Michelin confident about Qatar chances

The switch from 990cc to 800cc bikes for 2007 has provided a new challenge for the tyre manufacturers as the reduction in power has led to increased cornering speeds. Michelin have responded by replacing their previous 16.5 inch front tyre with a 16 inch version to allow lighter handling.

The tyre has proved very effective in winter testing, with the factory Yamahas and Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa fastest in Qatar last month - a performance that particularly pleased Michelin's director of motorcycle racing Jean-Philippe Weber.

"Obviously, it's very useful to test at a track quite close to the race and our riders' lap times were quite fast," he said.

"Dani was quick on qualifiers and also did a very good long run, plus the Yamahas also performed well, so we are quite confident for this first race with the 800s."

But Weber is not taking a Michelin victory for granted, because he expects the 2007 field to be very close, and because of the changeable conditions in the desert.

"I think the difference in performance between the various 800s isn't as big as it was with the 990s, so the racing could be very close," he said.

"As always at Qatar, the problem is that we don't know whether our work will be disturbed by sand. If it's windy then sand gets blown onto the track surface, reducing grip and working against the tyres like sandpaper.

"Even if we have two good days of practice we can't be sure that track conditions won't change on race day, so we need to have tyres to face this problem. Also, the conditions will be warmer than they were during last month's tests."