James Ellison Tech3 Yamaha MotoGP rider

Anyone who is watching the championship this year would tell you it is the best for years, because there are so many people in the hunt.

We have had a different winner at every race so far and it is an open championship - this is how it should be, between a lot of people rather than dominated by a few.

The standard of competition this year has dazzled James

For the last few years, everyone has wanted to be like Valentino Rossi, so I think people have picked up tips and are learning how to do it properly, which is why they're catching him this season.

Even though he's won championships before and is on a factory bike, Dani Pedrosa, who won in China last weekend, is a particularly big surprise in his first year in MotoGP.

He is a good friend of Rossi, who is sure to have taught him a few good things. But he's probably wishing he hadn't now!

It's good for the championship to have someone so young up front.

Things fall into place for different people at different circuits, and that means different results so I think we'll see another different winner this weekend in France.

Even we should be in a different position this weekend at Le Mans.

I've done two 24 Hour races at Le Mans before, and Dunlop have been racing here since the 1930s, so they have should have some information.

I want to be in the top 10 which I know the bike and tyres are capable of once we get some more development and practice

Last weekend in China I finished just one place outside the points but we are coming in to France with a new generation of Dunlop tyres.

They are successful in domestic championships all over the place, but a lack of development and testing is holding them back in MotoGP.

It's the first year Yamaha have been on Dunlops - it's not an inferior tyre, it's just that we've no information on how they work together.

We don't have the beauty of saying 'this is what we did last year, so we'll start again' - every circuit is different so you have to start from scratch each time.

We are moving forward, slowly but surely.

All four of us using Dunlops are struggling, so it's not just a case of me having a bad time.

I'm the second fastest of those four, and always within half a second or so of Carlos Checa, someone who's always finished on the podium most of his career, so in a way that's some kind of consolation.

But I want to be in the top 10 which I know the bike and tyres are capable of once we get some more development and practice.

James Ellison will write a regular column for this website throughout the MotoGP season