July 28th, 2008 by R.J.

After last week’s dismal performance, Michelin seems to have grown tired of being the #2 tire manufacturer in MotoGP. The french tire manufacturer has vowed to try to produce better tires for the upcoming Czech Grand Prix in Brno.

Last weekend during testing at Laguna Seca, many of the Michelin riders were complaining of their tires lacking any sort of grip. And it showed during the race. The fastest Michelin rider was 4th place Andrea Dovizioso, who was still some 20 seconds off the pace.

In response, Michelin has undertaken an aggressive development program for the upcoming Czech Grand Prix. How will this turn out? We’ll have to wait until August 15th to see, but if Michelin still can’t perform at Brno, I would expect many more riders to jump ship come next season.

Of their performance, Michelin had this to say:

“It’s been a really difficult weekend because our approach was far too conservative. From now on we have to share more our tyre strategy and allocation strategy with the teams. For example, Colin Edwards requested some fronts for this race which he had already used this year at less demanding tracks.

He could have used those tyres here, so he was right. On a positive note, it was great to see Andrea fighting with Nicky for fourth, that was a very impressive result for a Laguna Seca newcomer and showed his impressive strengths. Randy also rode a good race. He used an even harder rear tyre than the others and he found a good machine set-up. But obviously we aren’t happy with our riders’ lap times here, because we didn’t give them enough grip.”