MANAMA: Pro-democracy protest groups in Bahrain have revealed plans for a late switch of tyres ahead of tomorrow’s controversial Grand Prix amid fears over heavy degradation.

Speaking to reporters, protest spokesman Ayat Al-Taib said that soft compound tyres would be removed and replaced with medium rubber, after practice runs had revealed that the softer options were wearing out faster under intense heat.

“We were finding that the softer tyres were averaging around two hours 10 minutes alight, whereas the medium rubbers were hitting up to two hours forty,” he said.

“When you’re protesting and setting up road blockades under such intense conditions you really need everything to be performing at optimum efficiency, which is why we decided to make the change.”