Michelin leave Indianapolis Motor Speedway satisfied after a successful tyre test around the new American MotoGP venue.

An opportunity for the teams to get some data of the new for 2008 circuit, Erwan Nigon and William Costes assumed testing duties for Honda and Yamaha, putting a myriad of different tyres to the test.

Looking to keep up the fight against Bridgestone, Michelin brought 200 development tyres to the two-day test in readiness for the inaugural Indy MotoGP, in a bid to avoid any similar errors similar to those that brought Formula 1 into disrepute in 2005.

“We've had good weather, with a track temperature of 50 degrees on the first day and 47 degrees on the second,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin's director motorcycle racing. “We expect conditions to be not too dissimilar in September, when the temperature will be slightly less, which will be compensated by the faster pace during a race weekend.

“Both our riders have worked very hard. Thanks to them we have been able to pretty much complete our test programme which was quite ambitious. William was able to complete his tests with an endurance run, while Erwan managed a long run. We have now got plenty of data to analyse and information to verify.”

“The Indy circuit is more complex than we expected,” said Weber. “The grip wasn't as good as we expected in the fast left after the start either, but it improved throughout the tests and will keep getting better as the bikes put down more rubber. On the other hand, the surface isn't very aggressive on the tyres.

“The circuit is unusual, with a fast main straight, heavy braking into the first turn and then a lot of slow corners. At the front it will probably demand a construction that gives stability during braking for the first left-hander, but the front will also need to offer good handling for the tighter sections. At the rear, traction will be important.

”As far as compounds go we think we will be looking at a medium range of compounds. In September we may start out with softer tyres, but we will have to focus on consistency of performance for the race.” The Indy GP is programmed to last 28 laps, so it's a long race.”