Michelin states opposition to one tyre MotoGP.

In something of a pre-emptive move, Michelin group chairman and CEO Edouard Michelin (left on top pic) has underlined his company's opposition to any introduction of control tyres in MotoGP.

Although no official proposal has been made in favour of one tyre company supplying the entire premier-class grid, a number of individuals within the MotoGP paddock have suggested that confining the world championship to a single brand would be beneficial for the series - something Michelin strongly objects to.

"Racing is all about competition, that's fairly obvious," said Monsieur Michelin, who was visiting the Sachsenring along with Michelin's motorcycle and car competitions chief Pierre Dupasquier. "It's about the competition between riders' talent and the competition between the technical companies involved.

"I think that maybe tyres are more crucial in MotoGP than in any other motorsport, so being able to choose your own tyres is, in our view, absolutely fundamental to the spirit of the racing and to racing competition," he continued.

"I think it would a disastrous, catastrophic decision to shift from free choice to control tyres, because that would be the first step to one-make racing, where everyone has the same tyres and the same bikes.

"That kind of racing may be good in some classes, but it would be a shame in any premier class. It wouldn't so much be a shame for the tyre companies but a shame for the fans, who want to see everyone always pushing towards maximum performance."

World Superbike adopted a control tyre system for this year's series, with Pirelli supplying all competitors. The move forced both Dunlop and Michelin out of the series but is widely regarded as having made the racing closer, by removing the previous tyre advantage held by factory teams.

The downside has been in lap times: At last weekend's Laguna Seca round the top riders in the national AMA Superbike championship, who can use whatever tyres they choose, were around one second a lap faster than the quickest men in the World Superbike races.

While affirming his commitment to unrestricted competition in MotoGP, Michelin also described how important it was for his company to be competing with Bridgestone and Dunlop after several years in which, due to team preference, they were the only tyre supplier present in the class.

"When I last came to a motorcycle GP at Valencia three years ago, before the four-stroke era, I complained about one thing - that we lacked competition," he stated. "I said this situation isn't normal for us and it's also boring for us.

"Our MotoGP team works very hard to continually improve the performance of our product, race after race, year after year, and now we are entering a more normal situation thanks to increased commitment from some of our competitors in MotoGP.

"We are very excited to be working in a more competitive landscape, because it makes the racing more exciting for us and for everyone. Competition is part of Michelin's philosophy - we want to earn our reputation through the excellence of our product. That is what stimulates us," concluded the Frenchman.

As well as MotoGP, Formula One is also said to be considering a one tyre rule.