The French company, which ruled
MotoGP and the former 500cc class for three decades before
Bridgestone stole the title last year, is taking the fightback seriously.
Weber admitted that last year their tyres had a narrow operating range, which gave riders problems on cold mornings in practice, and were ineffective in the wet.
Both these issues have been addressed, and the factory is succeeding in getting more of its seven riders to adopt the new 16in rear race tyre.
"The 16in tyre has better traction and grip," Weber said. "Riders can open the throttle earlier."
Michelin is also developing a 16in rear qualifier, although that is not in serious use yet, and a wider profile front tyre.
Today's 40-minute qualifying battle for a
BMW Z4 roadster car, on a damp track, will indicate how well the factory is progressing with better wet-weather performance.
Sunday am - West, Vermeulen, Edwards: Your Chance to Star
'Mostly cloudy, thunderstorms and rain showers.' That's the scenario for
Jerez today, a dire forecast that might yet bring a smile to the faces of
Colin Edwards,
Chris Vermeulen and
Anthony West.
West and Vermeulen have an uncanny ability to float a MotoGP bike on water, a skill developed in spending their adolescence sliding around dirt tracks in Australia.
Vermeulen scored his only MotoGP victory so far at a wet Le Mans last year on his Rizla Suzuki; West soared from 17th to fifth place in four laps at a soaking
Donington in 2007 in his MotoGP debut, before falling and remounting to finish 11th on his Kawasaki.
Both will be favourites to win the BMW Z4 M roadster car available to the rider who laps fastest in a 40-minute window from 14.05pm today. Edwards has already won a Z4 with a display of wet-track magic at Barcelona in 2006, and could add to his collection today on his Tech III Yamaha.
