MotoGP, GP Malaysia: Michelin Saturday’s Tyre Tech Notes

A good day with dry conditions in all sessions, which provided a lot of useful data if the race takes place on a dry track tomorrow.
The track temperatures were finally what we would expect in Malaysia, with 43° C in the morning, increasing to 50° C in the afternoon.
 
The main objective of today was to validate the Soft rear as a viable option for the race distance, and of course for qualifying.
 
As far as the front options are concerned, it is clear that the Medium is the tyre that offers the best compromise between feel, grip and consistency. Even if it has to be managed to a certain extent, it remains progressive and predictable. As a result it will be the race tyre choice for the vast majority of riders. The Hard front was tried by a few riders, and while the support and stability are good, the overall level of grip is lower than the Medium. However, it still remains a race option if tomorrow’s track temperatures are high.
 
Many laps were completed on the Soft rear and it offered high grip levels, predictable handling and very progressive loss of potential, which will make it the majority choice for the race. The Medium rear offered reasonably fast warm-up with good stability and consistency, but the overall level of grip was lower than that offered by the Soft.
 
The bumps in the track caused problems for a number of riders today while pushing during time-attack, but the lap times were fast with Jorge Martin setting a new all-time circuit lap record of 1’57.790 – beating the previous record by more than 0.5 seconds.