Michelin confident of Jerez advantage

The circuit was one of the few where Michelin riders enjoyed an advantage over their Bridgestone counterparts in 2007, with Valentino Rossi leading home a quartet of bikes on the French rubber ahead of Ducati's Casey Stoner.

Michelin also dominated the pre-season test at Jerez last month when its riders Nicky Hayden, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Randy de Puniet again took the top four places.

And following a strong showing in Qatar where Jorge Lorenzo's Yamaha and Dani Pedrosa's Honda scored podium finishes on Michelin tyres, the company's director of motorcycle racing Jean-Philippe Weber, is confident Michelin can extend its record of 20 wins in the top class at Jerez since 1987.

"Our tyres performed very well in Qatar, even in low temperatures, which could be important at Jerez because it's still quite early in the year, so the track could be quite cool," said Weber. "On the other hand, conditions could be quite warm, so we will offer a range of tyres that will handle a broad range of temperatures.

"Our Spanish GP tyres will be based on what we learned during the Jerez tests and in Qatar. Our new generation 16.5-inch rear is working well. We introduced this construction at last November's Valencia GP, which Dani [Pedrosa] won, and since then we've been perfecting the construction and optimising compounds to suit each circuit.

"We have focused on improving warm-up, tyre operation range and overall performance," he added. "Our riders will test at Jerez after the race. At Qatar they all used our wider 16-inch front tyre, which has a fatter contact patch for even better corner-entry performance.

"After Jerez they will be able to test our latest, widest front, because when you increase rear tyre performance you must also improve the front. Our riders will also be able to evaluate the progress we've made with our 16-inch rear."