Bridgestone Equipped Stoner Triumphant in Qatar

It was a win for Bridgestone in Qatar as Australia’s Casey Stoner rode his Ducati to victory in the MotoGP season opener. He squeezed out pole position starter Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha during the race’s final laps to take this, his first MotoGP victory.

“This is a real dream, it hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said Stoner after completing the 22-lap race at the Losail circuit in Doha. His success also earned the praise of Hiroshi Yasukawa, director of Bridgestone Motorsport. “It was an extremely satisfying weekend for Bridgestone in Qatar and I was very happy to see Casey Stoner on our tyres take his first victory in MotoGP,” he said. “I would like to pass on my congratulations to the whole Ducati team for an excellent result.”

Rossi and Repson Honda rider Dani Pedrosa took out respective second and third places on their Michelin shod cycles, prompting Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing Jean Philippe Weber to state that he was “happy with how our tyres worked.”