Gibernau hopes floored by faulty tyre.

Pole sitter Sete Gibernau knew his hopes of winning the Chinese Grand Prix hopes were over even before the race had begun, when his rear tyre began vibrating on the warm-up lap prior to the start of the 22-lap main event.

The Catalan nevertheless hurled his Movistar Honda ahead into turn one - but the vibration kicked in and he was pushed wide. Gibernau then appeared to adjust to the problem as he battled back up to second by the end of lap five - and held his ground for the next ten laps, before the inevitable decay saw him slip to fourth at the chequered flag.

"I'm very disappointed because all weekend we have worked well," he commented afterwards. "This morning in the wet I was confident and did eight fast laps in a row. For the race we chose a harder tyre that, according to the Michelin technicians, should have given us advantages with less water being on the track.

"But during the warm up lap I had a bad feeling from the tyre, but it was too late to change it. The bike vibrated from the beginning and I had no confidence. I did my best to finish the race and get as much points as possible in a difficult situation," concluded Sete, who has now slipped to 37-points behind Valentino Rossi.

"Maybe Valentino would have had a tougher time if Alex Barros hadn't been penalised for jumping the start and if Sete hadn't had a vibration problem," admitted Nicolas Goubert, Michelin's chief of motorcycle competitions, before claiming:

"We've inspected Sete's rear tyre and so far found nothing wrong with it, but we will make further analysis while the team will inspect the bike."