COME OUT FIGHTING AFTER SLOW START
Tyres were the major talking point at the Sepang test. Before Sepang, Moto GP riders knew that Michelin's tyres were very different from the Bridgestones they've used during the last seven seasons. The French company's first full Moto GP test after last November's Valencia GP was a disaster, with more than 20 crashes in one day. Michelin blamed many of those falls on a poor choice of front tyre compound and returned to Clermont-Ferrand to work on improving front compounds, profiles and constructions. 'Michelin have made a good job with the front tyre and also we have tried some new profiles that improve things more,' said Valentino Rossi. 'If you had asked me at the Valencia tests, I would have said we need to make big changes in how we ride, but with these new fronts the difference is much smaller. Basically the Michelin rear is a bit better and the front is a little worse [than the Bridgestones]. The most important thing is to understand what weight distribution we need and how to
‘The latest front is a big improvement but you cannot save a crash when it tucks’
JORGE LORENZO
load each tyre to make it work.' On the first day of testing, when riders could use soft tyres, only one rider crashed. There were more tumbles after the soft fronts were withdrawn following Baz's accident. Many of these were at Turn Five, a fast, downhill left. Lorenzo went down there. 'The combination of hard front and hard rear didn't work so well,' he said after his tumble. 'The latest front is a big improvement but you cannot save a crash when the tyre tucks under. This time I stayed a long time with the front tucked, but it didn't come back.' Despite his crash, Lorenzo seems more at ease with the tyres than anyone, happily adapting his silky-smooth technique to glide through corners at mega-speed. The company's next challenge is its biggest. On February 17 they commence a three-day test at Phillip Island, the anti-clockwise Australian track that's renowned for destroying tyres. 'The tyres we take there will be very different, as far as compound goes,' adds Goubert. 'They will have a much harder left side and a not very hard right. The centre will be similar to what we used at Sepang.'