Lorenzo Completes Third Win on Bridgestone’s Medium Slick Tyres at Silverstone

The Great Britain GP at Silverstone on Sunday 20 June 2010 saw Jorge Lorenzo take a commanding victory for the Fiat Yamaha Team; his third of the MotoGP season. With the hottest track temperature of the weekend, Lorenzo used his softer option front and rear slicks to good effect, setting a fast and consistent pace throughout and the fastest lap of the race which becomes a new lap record at this new circuit. Behind Lorenzo the battle for the podium was intense as Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso pushed hard on his softer slicks to stay ahead of Ben Spies of Monster Yamaha Tech3, who scored his first MotoGP podium, and the Ducati Team duo of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner. The four were split by less than a second entering the final lap.

Every rider opted for the softer option front slick and only Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Dani Pedrosa chose the hard compound rear. The warmer track temperature for the race made tyre selection harder for the riders though. Jorge Lorenzo set his fastest time on the fourth lap of the race using a softer rear, indicating good warm-up performance, whereas Casey Stoner set the second fastest time of the race on lap 17, also on the softer rear, demonstrating good durability. Interestingly, even the hard compound rear showed good warm-up performance as Randy de Puniet recorded the fourth fastest lap of the race on only his second lap.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, director, Bridgestone Motorsport said: “We saw a fantastic race today and I’d like to send my congratulations to Jorge and Fiat Yamaha for their dominant victory. Silverstone have produced a very impressive venue for this MotoGP round and the new circuit layout gave us some very close and exciting battles today. MotoGP remains to be a very strong marketing tool for Bridgestone and we wish to express our commitment to continuing support for this series. It is also valuable for us that Dorna and the FIM are embracing the need to incorporate safety and environmental responsibility into their future plan.”

Tohru Ubukata, manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department: “The track conditions were different again today as the temperature was the highest of the weekend, but we saw that our medium and hard compound rear slicks had good performance overlap in terms of durability, warm-up and grip. The increased track temperature made it difficult for teams to get the right setup and choose the right tyre option for the race as they only have data for this track from yesterday and Friday when it was cooler, but I am happy with the performance of both specs and I can say that I am satisfied with our tyre compound choice for Silverstone.”

“Today was a very important day for us, for the race win and also for the championship,” said Lorenzo. “It was difficult to go fast at the beginning and I had to be very concentrated not to make a mistake. The rear tyre was sliding and I was just enjoying myself and focusing on my race. I had a different feeling today that said to me it could be a good day.”

Silverstone reports that the weekend attendance reached 145,000 over all three days, with more than 70,000 at sun-drenched Silverstone on Sunday, enjoying what it called “the successful return of Motorcycle Grand Prix racing” to the Northamptonshire circuit.

Speaking over the weekend about Silverstone, Lorenzo commented, “I’ve really enjoyed the new circuit; it’s fast and fun to ride.” Richard Phillips, managing director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said: “It’s been a fantastic weekend for Silverstone. The new Grand Prix Circuit has received rave reviews from the riders and we have had great feedback from the fans. We were aiming for a 60,000 strong crowd on Sunday, so to exceed this by more than 10,000 is superb. I have a great team here at Silverstone who have worked hard to deliver such a world-class event. Tickets are already on sale for next year’s event, which will be even bigger and better.”