MotoGP: Michelin still hopeful on Alex Barros deal
By Matthew Britt MotoGP
19 February 2008 14:04

Michelin boss Jean Philippe Weber has revealed the French tyre brand is still in negotiation with Brazilian veteran Alex Barros about a test rider role in 2008.
While Ducati, Kawasaki and Suzuki have their own test teams set up with Bridgestone, Michelin lags behind with no contracted test riders.
Not only does Bridgestone have three test teams, but the likes of Olivier Jacque and Nobuatsu Aoki can still lap at a pace where they can give relevant information for tyre development.
Increasing the speed of development has become a priority for Michelin after a humbling defeat to rivals Bridgestone in 2007.
“If you want to do tests outside the MotoGP calendar you need someone like Barros who is fast and knows MotoGP bikes,” said Weber.
“If your test rider is six seconds off the pace you won't get the right amount of stress and heat into the tyres so you won't get good answers.
“So far we haven't been able to make an agreement with Alex but maybe it will be possible soon.”
Alex Barros retired from racing at the end of 2007 when he lost his ride with the Madrid-based d’Antin Ducati squad and couldn’t clinch a deal in World Superbikes.

Michellin doesn't have a good test rider. He has Dani, Hayden & Edwards as developers but look at Bridgestone. They have Vale, Stoner, Melandri, Capirosi.
Michelline is history after this seasson.

Do you know I think you could be right here

Russia aims to host MotoGP race By Jonathan Noble and Gerhard Kuntschik Monday, February 25th 2008, 12:22 GMT A new track in Russia has set it sights on bringing MotoGP to the country in the next two years, autosport.com has learned.
The current track project at Volokolamsk, 80 kilometres west of Moscow, is being headed by Hans Geist, the former general manager of the Austrian Grand Prix at the A1 Ring.
With funding for the track coming from both Russian and foreign investors, Geist has already had the design plans for the venue put together by Hermann Tilke - with the brief being that it is built to Formula One standards.
However, Geist has made it clear that the target is not for an F1 race. Instead, he wants to secure the rights to a MotoGP race and also DTM.
"F1 is not the main target though every detail is agreed with Bernie (Ecclestone)", said Geist. "If some organizer comes up who wants to bring F1, we would be happy.
"But we are not desperately going for this. The track will be state-of-the-art for all kinds of racing. We do expect MotoGP and DTM to come to us".
The Volokolamsk track will have a capacity for 100,000 spectators and is expected to open in 2010.

Bloody hell, I hope this isn't going to replace the Donington Race in Britain!

There are more than enough races throughout the season, adding another one is just going overboard and beyond. The riders will not be able to take a pee between races if they carry on adding more and more races each year. I can see a boycott in the making by the riders if Dorna & FIM do carry on increasing the amount of races there are during a season.

Personally, i think Michellin will survive, and they might even do better than Bridgestonez...i hope not....but atleast on few tracks...i'm sure they cant be beaten....

Russia?

Will MotoGP next step be riding on icy tracks???

It's kinda cold there!

Thanks for the news!

Gi

Just had a thought...........

If this new track is supposedly to bring MotoGP to Russia why the hell are they having every detail overlooked and agreed to by Bernie Ecclestone? If the making of this new track is solely to attract MotoGP wouldn't the FIM, Dorna and last of all the Safety Commission have to over see and agree to it - not Ecclestone???

We don't know who else may have been involved in the planning - I think the mention of F1 and Ecclestone is just to a media attempt to grab the attention of the masses - behind the scenes it may well be that all the effort and design is skewed towards other types of racing but F1 is the one worldwide which gets media interest.

Hey Jackie!!!! ! Nice to have you back!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the news! And I fear Jorge more than Dani !

Gi