Bridgestone worries over cooler Qatar

Jorge Lorenzo set the pace on a Michelin-shod Yamaha ahead of Tech 3 rider James Toseland during testing at Losail last week, with both riders nearly a second quicker than the Bridgestone-shod Casey Stoner on the Ducati.

The track temperature during last year's race, held during the day, was 45 degrees centigrade and the humidity was 11 percent. But, during last week's test, the track temperature dropped to 15 degrees while the humidity level went up to 75 percent.

Bridgestone's Hiroshi Yamaha admitted the very different track conditions had caught it out, and left the Japanese manufacturer with plenty of work to do ahead of this weekend.

"Based on our initial forecast and on last week's test, we expect track temperatures in the region of 15 degrees this weekend, which means we will be using softer specification Qatar compounds compared to last year's event," he explained.

"However, last week's test was our first experience of such low track temperatures at Losail and the results from the test were not as positive as at other winter testing venues, such as Sepang or Phillip Island, so it is clear that we have a lot more work to do here."

Bridgestone intends to offer a new specification tyre, built after the test, to all of their riders on Thursday as part of their mandatory selected 18 front and 22 rear sets for the weekend.

Michelin meanwhile has succeeded in bringing its tyres up to temperature more quickly, allowing its riders access to more grip much sooner - and the French company has revealed that this was a specific target set out for 2008.

Michelin's director of motorcycle racing, Jean-Philippe Weber, said: "Last year we weren't so fast in cool conditions but this time our riders' lap times were good, which suggests that the work we've been doing on warm-up and operating range has been successful.

"Following the tests we are making more tyres at Clermont-Ferrand to specifically suit the conditions. About 30 percent of the tyres we'll have at Losail this Thursday will have been made since the tests."

The cool temperatures associated with running a MotoGP race at night is set to become a recurring theme over the weekend.

During last week's test, riders reported getting cold on track, and some, such as Toseland, even had to resort to wearing a wet weather facemask underneath his helmet to stop his visor from misting up.