MotoGP: James Toseland ponders qualifying review

British rider James Toseland reckons a rule should be considered where riders are not allowed to be out on track after they have used their allocation of soft tyres in MotoGP qualifying.

Toseland raised the issue after he came under criticism from American Nicky Hayden in Estoril. Hayden was unhappy with the Tech 3 Yamaha rider after an incident during qualifying.

Having used his three soft Michelin qualifying tyres earlier than normal, Toseland was out on race tyres when he inadvertently baulked the Repsol Honda rider, who missed out on a front row start.

Toseland told MCN: “You could make a rule where once you finish your qualifiers you can’t go out on race tyres again because there’s too much of a difference. I understood why Nicky got a bit upset because he was on a qualifier and I was in the way.

“But I was actually trying on race tyres, but because race tyres are three seconds per lap slower, you can imagine how quickly you get caught.

“There’s definitely something in maybe not allowing people to use qualifiers until a certain time in the session and then after you qualify you can’t go back out except for practicing a start.”

Toseland though said tweaking the rule would be tricky because of weather conditions.

“If the weather is going to change and you can see it coming in qualifying, you want to be going out on your qualifiers early. It’s just one of those situations that’s really tricky.”