Michelin replaces hard front tyre for Portimao return

Michelin has changed the hard front tyre option on offer for this weekend's penultimate MotoGP round in Portimao, compared to the earlier April event.

That should be good news for the likes of KTM's Miguel Oliveira, who dominated last November's inaugural race with a symmetric hard front tyre but – like most of the field – didn't like the asymmetric hard option brought for this April's return.

That prompted Oliveira, who had only qualified tenth, to choose the medium front. But it soon overheated, resulting in a fall.

Tech3 KTM's Danilo Petrucci was the only rider to race the asymmetric hard front in April, managing 13th place. The rest, including dominant winner and newly crowned world champion Fabio Quartararo, ran with the medium (symmetric) front.

“After the emotional rollercoaster of Misano, with its incredible highs and lows, we are now back at the physical rollercoaster of Portimao with its elevation changes," said Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager.

“The allocation for this race is slightly different to the previous race back in April.

"We took onboard the feedback from the riders regarding the Hard compound asymmetric front option and have replaced that tyre with a symmetric version to give them improved feedback and confidence when turning into corners."

Riders struggled with feeling during corner entry with the asymmetric tyre, particularly the transition from the centre compound when upright to the edge compound as they began to lean.

Rear tyre choice was evenly split between the medium and hard (both asymmetric), in April.