Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone have revealed that MotoGP bikes are so far roughly half a second quicker than last season.
The tyre manufacturers believe this season could be one of the fastest in the history of the sport.
The MotoGP World Championship begins on March 23 with a floodlit opener in Qatar, where teams have been testing recently.
The data gathered at the most recent test at the Losail International Circuit – which was missing only the Honda, Yamaha and Ducati teams – has given Bridgestone optimism for a rapid Qatar GP and beyond.
"The final pre-season test at Qatar was very productive," said Masao Azuma, Bridgestone's chief engineer for tyre development.
"Both Bridgestone and the teams were able to collect a lot of data which will serve us well for the opening race of the season.
"It was encouraging to see how quick the pace was during this test, both over a single lap and during the race simulations, as this track offers comparatively little grip compared to other venues on the calendar.
"The best lap time from this test was 0.6 seconds faster than the best race time from 2013 and many riders also had good results in their race simulations as well, so overall I am pleased that our 2014-spec tyres worked well here."
Source: DSG
