Michelin: Records at Qatar test shows tyre grip good

If Jack Miller's Qatar test lap time of 1m 53.183s can be repeated during the upcoming race weekend, it will officially set a new Losail circuit record.

The new Factory Ducati rider dipped under Marc Marquez's official pole record of 1m 53.380s, set in 2019, during day 3 of 5 – and it remained the best of the test, with a sandstorm on the final day.

Miller wasn't the only Ducati rider exceeding official records with Pramac's Johann Zarco clocking a massive 357.69km/h or 222mph along the one-kilometre home straight.

That isn't just an unofficial Losail record, but also beats the all-time official MotoGP speed record of 356.7km/h (221.6mph) by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso at Mugello in 2019.

Michelin MotoGP boss Piero Taramasso highlighted the performances of Miller and Zarco as evidence of strong tyre performance during 2021 pre-season testing.

However, he expects only the soft or medium options to be chosen for the March 28 and April 4 night races, with the hard options suited to the hot daytime temperatures in FP1 and FP3.

"The riders pushed very hard on the front and rear tyres as you can see from the lap time, Jack Miller was able to beat the track lap record, Zarco did the speed record. It means the grip from the tyres was good," Taramasso said.

"They really liked the soft specification on the front and rear. It worked quite well. The grip is good, also the stability. Teams and riders worked well on settings too because the wear is still high but acceptable and then we have to see during the race weekend what happens with the track temperature and sand.

"But anyway there is still the medium specification which showed less grip but better stability and consistency. And the hard solution will be used just for FP1 or FP3, if the [afternoon] track temperature goes up to 45 or 50 degrees.

"Anyway the test was positive. Teams and riders have a good feeling with many bikes competitive and I'm sure it will be a nice race."

Assuming normal conditions, the official Qatar race lap record of 1m 54.927s set by Jorge Lorenzo back in 2016 will also be expected to fall during the season-opening events.