Bridgestone “Happy” with MotoGP Tyre Performance following Rossi Sepang Lap Record

In addition to sealing the MotoGP Riders Championship with his third place at the weekend, Valentino Rossi managed an outright lap record in qualifying on Saturday, suggesting to Bridgestone manager of the Motorcycle Tyre Development Department, Tohru Ubukata that tyre performance had been good: “Yes, in general I am happy with the performance of both our available compounds this weekend, but Valentino’s lap was very impressive indeed. The track temperature at the end of the session was 52 degrees Celsius, yet Valentino set his fastest lap on the softer front tyre and the softer rear tyre which shows that even in the high heat they had a suitable level of durability and good overall performance.

“For sure the track condition is getting better year on year as the asphalt matures and it was at its peak during the qualifying session. The lap record also shows the level of development of the bikes that the teams are achieving, and this is very impressive, but it brings its own challenges for us as our tyres have to deal with ever-increasing speeds and loads.”

Asked to speculate on the wide variety of tyre compound choices made by riders while the sun shone during qualifying, Ubakata continued, “During the weekend the overall performance of both compounds was very similar, which is why at the end of the qualifying session the tyre choices amongst the top five riders was so varied. Some favoured the softer options, like Valentino, whilst other riders used a harder front and Casey set his best using the harder rear too.

“With the overall performance being so similar, the reason for the varied choices came down to how the character of each tyre suited riding styles and machine setup. Put most simply, the harder specification offers good braking stability whilst the softer option gives good cornering performance. With the slick tyre choices the riders had made ahead of the race, I think that if it hadn’t have rained we would have seen a good race between the warm-up performance of the softer slicks and race-distance durability of the harder tyres, but anyway it was a very good race with some very close battles on our wet tyres.”