Bridgestone’s Yamada Happy to Work with Rossi

Bridgestone Motorsport’s Hiroshi Yamada appears to have put his past criticisms of Valentino Rossi’s bid to switch tyre supplier for the 2008 MotoGP season behind him, and is reported to have said he is looking forward to working with the Italian rider next year. Comments to this effect, made by the manager of Motorcycle Sport regarding Valentino’s switch from Michelin to Bridgestone Rubber, have been published by Motorcycle News.

“Always we like to have a good rider and obviously Valentino is one of the greatest riders in history and still I believe he has top potential,” Yamada told Motorcycle News. He added, however, that working with the current number three ranked rider would also require a few adjustments. “We are happy to have such a great rider, but this is also a new challenge because we have no experience with Yamaha. We have never worked together. This is a big challenge but we will try hard.”

Yamada had previously accused Rossi of possessing too much clout when decisions came to be made in MotoGP, and the boss of series organiser Dorna Sports, Carmelo Ezpeleta, is rumoured to have threatened Bridgestone with a one tyre series supplied by Michelin should the manufacturer refuse to supply Rossi. When Motorcycle News put such a question to Mr. Yamada, whether Bridgestone feared expulsion from MotoGP if it turned down Ezpeleta’s approach, he replied “I don’t know but I felt so yes.”

Valentino Rossi will make his Bridgestone debut in Jerez in late November.