Weber reflects as Michelin avoid China crisis

Michelin were unable to bounce back numbers-wise at the Sinopec Great Wall Lubricants Grand Prix of China, with only three riders in the top ten using their tyres.

Michelin were unable to bounce back numbers-wise at the Sinopec Great Wall Lubricants Grand Prix of China, with only three riders in the top ten using their tyres. However, the tyre manufacturer returned to the podium courtesy of Valentino Rossi, who avoided a repeat of the problems experienced both in Turkey and at last year's race at Shanghai.

Dani Pedrosa and Carlos Checa were the other two Michelin representatives in the first ten past the flag.

Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director of motorcycle racing, analysed the weekend's performances after the race, commenting: "We are quite happy because we've been reactive since the last race. Based on Valentino's comments in Turkey we are now progressing in the right direction, giving him what he needs. He was very fast and aggressive in the corners today and looked very confident in the front tyre."

"His best lap was only 0.027 seconds slower than Stoner's and with a little bit more top speed I think he would have had the perfect package. Dani Pedrosa also said his tyres worked well, he was able to overtake Marco Melandri and stay ahead to be the top Honda, though he said maybe he could have used a little more rear grip through the lefts. Generally we are happy with today's race but of course we know we have more work to do."