Lorenzo wins at Mugello on Bridgestone hard tyres

Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo dominated the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso. Bridgestone’s special construction rear slick tyre, provided in order to give riders another option for dealing with Mugello’s abrasiveness and high track temperatures of around 49°C, was only used by Casey Stoner, who finished eighth; the rest of the top ten all used the hard slicks on both front and rear.

Starting from second on the grid, Lorenzo beat pole-positioned Pedrosa on the exit of turn one, setting a relentless pace to finish over five seconds ahead of his compatriot. Pedrosa passed Dovizioso to move up into second place on the fourth lap and despite setting a new race lap record of 1:47.705 on lap ten, the Spaniard couldn’t catch Lorenzo and had to settle for second place ahead of Dovizioso who once again rode brilliantly to score his third successive podium. The first CRT rider across the finish line today was Randy de Puniet on the Power Electronics Aspar ART machine in twelfth place.
 
Like the rest of the weekend, track conditions were good for the race with temperatures very similar to Saturday’s qualifying session. Fourteen of the twenty riders on the grid selected the harder compound for the rear, while front tyre choice was uniform across the field with all riders selecting the harder front slick. Lorenzo’s fifth win of the season increases his lead in the championship over Pedrosa to nineteen points at the halfway point of the season, while Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner remains in third position overall and thirty-seven points off Lorenzo.
 
Hiroshi Yamada – manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department said: “Congratulations to Jorge and the Yamaha Factory Racing team for capping off an impressive display at Mugello with their fifth win of the season. The race was run at an impressive pace with the winning race time over thirteen seconds faster than last year and in particular, the battle from third to seventh position was a thrill to watch. I would like to offer my thanks to all the teams and riders for their cooperation these past few days and for taking the time to evaluate both specifications of rear slick tyre.

“The addition of the special construction rear slick to our tyre allocation for this weekend required extra effort from our engineers to ensure teams could incorporate this additional supply of tyres into their programme without too much disruption. Our technical team now turns its focus to tomorrow’s MotoGP test at Mugello where they will support all the teams taking part before heading over to Laguna Seca for the U.S. Grand Prix.”
 
Shinji Aoki, manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department said: “Today’s race was held under very similar conditions to Friday and Saturday and this was the first race weekend since Qatar where rain didn’t interrupt any sessions, so this was a welcome change. As track temperatures for the race were the same as yesterday, most riders selected the harder compound rear slick in the regular construction for the race, and only one rider chose the harder rear slick in the special construction.

“Front tyre choice was much more straightforward with all riders deciding that the superior durability and stability of the harder front slick was the best choice for the race. This race was quite unique in that we offered three specifications of both front and rear slick tyres, so we had to work closely with teams throughout the weekend to ensure the best choice of tyre for the race conditions we had today.”