I have been looking for Bridgestone performance over last season on cold temperature. Looks like they tend to have less grip on cold temperature compared to Michelin. And the test in Qatar showed it.

1. James Toseland - Yamaha Tech3 - Michelin
2. Randy - Honda LCR - Michelin
3. Colin Edwards - Yamaha Tech3 - Michelin
4. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - Bridgestone
5. Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha - Michelin
6. Chris Vermuelen - Rizla Suzuki - Bridgestone
7. Andrea Dovizioso - Honda JIR Scott - Michelin
8. Alex De Angelis - Honda San Carlo - Michelin
9. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - Bridgestone
10. John Hopkins - Kawasaki Monster - Bridgestone
11. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - Michelin
12. Shinya Nakano - Honda San Carlo - Michelin
13. Marco Melandri - Ducati Marlboro - Bridgestone
14. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - Michelin
15. Toni Elias - Alice Ducati - Bridgestone
16. Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - Bridgestone
17. Anthony West - Kawaski Monster - Brigestone
18. Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Ducati - Bridgestone

By only looking at the color you will know straightaway that first half mostly filled by Michelin. And Look at Bridgestone. The Last four are Bridgestone.

thankfully most of the races will be held in warmer climates and in daylight

BUT...will the Michelin's last for the full race before going off. I know they always took on average 4 laps to get up to the required heat during a race last year whereas the Bridgestone's got to temperature as soon as the lights changed.

???????????????????

What I saw Bridgestone last longer that Michelin on last season. Michelin only good for few laps then it grips started to fade away quicker than Bridgestone. Michelin specially good with their qualifier. Hopefully they still stay the same like last season. Only good for Qualifier and short life race tyre. This is what happen to Vale last season.

I do not believe Bridgestone got the temperature as soon as the lights changed. That's why both tyre got tyre warmer. What happen to Casey few test before this Qatar test, he crashed because his Bridgestone is too cold. I think both Michelin and Bridgestone have same number of laps before they start to work properly but Bridgestone heat range is much wider than Michelin. Weber admitted it that their Michelin has narrower heat band.

Michelin: Qualifier, full wet race tyre.
Bridgestone: Longer life race tyre, wet to dry race tyre.

Michelin good with their tyre constuction. More rigid. Bridgestone with their rubber material but amazingly they got troubled with their qualifier. Looks like this season is a big battle between tyre.

Yamaha is very good now. Their topspeed is not bad at all. I saw on last test in Jerez. Vale set the highest top speed.

And also I just realised that to me Vale 9th position is not bad. He still in the 3rd fastest of Bridgestone rider. Most on the test he is in that position. Would be good if he is second or the fastest of Bridgestone rider.

I think Qatar test is not about his bike. it is about Michelin which are very good with their qualifier. Hopefully Bridgestone find better solution to their qualifier and more grip in the cold weather. Better for Europe race.

But last year Michellins were not good in cold conditions....remember Vale sayin....the more heat the better for Michellins...

well the main problem for Michelin last year was changing temperatures
and yes they had more problems in the cooler moring sessions than in the afternoon

brigestone seemed to work just fine in every condition and it wasn't a problem when the temerature of the track dropped or rose...

furthermore the problem for Michelin was that the tire needed to long to get on temperatuer (especialy when there were low temperatures anyways, so of curse the hotter the temperatures outside the better for them..) and then it faded away very fast, causing trubble in the end of the race

the Brigestone on the other hand just seemed to have a much wider range
and the temperature change didn't harm it so much, it was definitly quiker at temperature, and it never seemed to fade as much as the Michelin to the end of the race...

remember the wet race... was it philli??.. where they changed bikes and the Michelin riders tiptoed round the track like racing on ice and the brigestones just seemed to blast past them??

but remember also last year there were tracks where the Brigestones didn't work that well.. for example Sari

so maybe this year they won't work well at Qatar...

but to me this doesn't mean vale did a wrong choice

the tires worked well in jerez and Sepang
and there are 18 races...
so I'll wait for some more races to see.. and then we know if he made the wrong or right choice..


the best about Michelin were and still are their quali tires.....
brigestone qualis are a joke...

It's pretty obvious that its not so much the bridgestones but more so the bike that isnt set up properly. Sure the bridgies are struggling a little in the colder conditions but stacey stoner isnt that far off the pace in relation to rossi. I believe rossi may struggle at qatar but thereafter it will be a great "battle". Rossi struggled in the wet too, hence its more his set up. this may well prove to be the make or break for him this year. it will be close as that ducati is strong. wet and cold events will be all staceys by the looks of things. marco melandri is not doing too well on the bike is he. makes stacey look good he does.....

Yes.From an article on autosport -- Michelin's director of motorcycle racing, Jean-Philippe Weber, said: "Last year we weren't so fast in cool conditions but this time our riders' lap times were good, which suggests that the work we've been doing on warm-up and operating range has been successful.

Bridgestone worries over cooler Qatar





Bridgestone has admitted concerns that cold track temperatures might affect the competitiveness of its tyres in the season-opening MotoGP night race at Qatar.
Jorge Lorenzo set the pace on a Michelin-shod Yamaha ahead of Tech 3 rider James Toseland during testing at Losail last week, with both riders nearly a second quicker than the Bridgestone-shod Casey Stoner on the Ducati.
The track temperature during last year's race, held during the day, was 45 degrees centigrade and the humidity was 11 percent. But, during last week's test, the track temperature dropped to 15 degrees while the humidity level went up to 75 percent.
Bridgestone's Hiroshi Yamaha admitted the very different track conditions had caught it out, and left the Japanese manufacturer with plenty of work to do ahead of this weekend.
"Based on our initial forecast and on last week's test, we expect track temperatures in the region of 15 degrees this weekend, which means we will be using softer specification Qatar compounds compared to last year's event," he explained.
"However, last week's test was our first experience of such low track temperatures at Losail and the results from the test were not as positive as at other winter testing venues, such as Sepang or Phillip Island, so it is clear that we have a lot more work to do here."
Bridgestone intends to offer a new specification tyre, built after the test, to all of their riders on Thursday as part of their mandatory selected 18 front and 22 rear sets for the weekend.
Michelin meanwhile has succeeded in bringing its tyres up to temperature more quickly, allowing its riders access to more grip much sooner - and the French company has revealed that this was a specific target set out for 2008.
Michelin's director of motorcycle racing, Jean-Philippe Weber, said: "Last year we weren't so fast in cool conditions but this time our riders' lap times were good, which suggests that the work we've been doing on warm-up and operating range has been successful.
"Following the tests we are making more tyres at Clermont-Ferrand to specifically suit the conditions. About 30 percent of the tyres we'll have at Losail this Thursday will have been made since the tests."
The cool temperatures associated with running a MotoGP race at night is set to become a recurring theme over the weekend.
During last week's test, riders reported getting cold on track, and some, such as Toseland, even had to resort to wearing a wet weather facemask underneath his helmet to stop his visor from misting up.

Oh, no, Ruslan! It makes me cold just reading this!

But..., must think positive