MotoGP
MotoGP’s Czech Grand Prix weekend got underway with Free Practice today, and riders were keen to compare the balance of the slick compounds Bridgestone has provided (hard and extra-hard at the front, hard and medium at the rear. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo continued his strong form during the first hour-long free practice session at Brno, setting the fastest time by more than half a second, his best coming on the harder variants.
Jorge Lorenzo rode his Fiat Yamaha to a new fastest race time in Round 9 of the 2010 MotoGP Championship on Sunday, tearing around the United States’ Race Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, furthering his lead and seemingly inexorable rise to this season’s title. Tyre supplier Bridgestone was quick to explain the advantage its hard front and softer asymmetric rear slicks had given the field: every rider favoured the softer option asymmetric rear slick tyre which featured the improved medium compound rubber to offer better warm-up performance. “Its increased level of performance at higher temperatures was the reason it was sufficiently durable for race distance even as the track temperature reached 44 degrees,” a Bridgestone statement read.
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Bridgestone has already shed Formula One from its motorsport activities, but could another major worldwide series also find itself without the Japanese manufacturer’s rubber when the company’s exclusive supply contract expires in 2011? Motorports news source Racers Republic has reported a rumour is circulating in the MotoGP paddock that Bridgestone could pull out of the sport in 2011 for financial reasons.
Bridgestone Motorsport representatives are anticipating a “severe test” for their tyres at Silverstone for Formula One’s British Grand Prix, described as the company’s effective “home Grand Prix”. “The British Grand Prix is one of the most famous on the calendar and we are pleased to be visiting Silverstone once more,” said director Hiroshi Yasukawa. “Bridgestone Motorsport is based in Langley, near Heathrow, so this is a home Grand Prix for us. I am happy that Formula 1 will experience the new circuit layout that Bridgestone recently enjoyed with the British MotoGP race. Bridgestone UK is a very supportive market of our F1 programme and will enjoy a range of activities there.”
MotoGP’s Dutch TT Grand Prix this weekend – the 80th meeting held at the circuit – yielded a significant success for Bridgestone, the series’ sole tyre supplier. Throughout the weekend, the tyre manufacturer states, riders were lapping competitively on each specification, and the race provided a direct comparison between the extra edge grip of the softer rear slick option and the additional traction of the harder option. The balance between the medium and the hard asymmetric rear tyre options was illustrated by the podium: Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth win of the season using the hard option, with Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner coming second and third respectively using the softer rear tyre. While the circuit was modified in the Ruskenhoek corner, shortening it by 13 metres, the new lap record set by Dani Pedrosa was two seconds faster. The track temperature was high, reaching 47 degrees Celsius, and the weather was fine throughout the weekend maximising the riders’ dry running time.
Bridgestone will be present at the Assen circuit this weekend, which hosts the 80th Assen TT, and features a slight change to the circuit layout at the Ruskenhoek kink. For 2010, the kink has been smoothed which should allow riders to carry more speed through this section of the circuit. It also serves to slightly reduce the circuit’s lap length, but only by 13 metres. Hiroshi Yamada – manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department says: “The TT Assen weekend is always good with many fans and great excitement, so I am looking forward to the Grand Prix.
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.
Round five of the 2010 MotoGP Championship will be hosted for the first time since 1986 at Silverstone when the British Grand Prix takes place this weekend. Bridgestone, the sole tyre supplier for MotoGP, will bring its medium and hard slick compounds to the race, with the hard asymmetric rear tyre available.
Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department manager, Tohru Ubukata declared himself “happy” about the new lap record time set by Dani Pedrosa and the uptake of the manufacturer’s softer option rear tyre, which was used by nearly half the riders at the Italian Grand Prix – the fourth round of this year’s MotoGP Championship. The race provided the best opportunity for riders to select different rear tyre compounds for the race; whilst every rider chose the hard compound front tyre because of the hot conditions and the heavy braking seen at Mugello, seven riders opted for the softer option rear slick and nine for the harder option. Thus Bridgestone was able to compare the performance of the two rear tyre specifications and prove that both could work well in identical conditions. Dani Pedrosa of the Repsol Honda Team was the runaway winner followed by Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. Perpetual favourite Valentino Rossi was sidelined following his crash during free practice on Saturday morning.
Warm weather greeted MotoGP competitors on race day at the Grand Prix De France on May 23 – so much so that the track temperature rose to 48 degrees Celsius, safely the hottest track temperature recorded at the circuit during a MotoGP session. These conditions affected lap times slightly, yet Bridgestone reports that both specifications of its slicks proved their durability and consistent performance. The frontrunners used Bridgestone’s harder option front and asymmetric rear slicks, and it was Jorge Lorenzo of the Fiat Yamaha Team who took victory, ahead of teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso.
Bridgestone will provide riders at MotoGP’s French Grand Prix with an asymmetric rear option for the first time in the 2010 season. The tyre supplier says the move is made in response to calls from riders during 2009 for greater use of the multi-compound slicks; while the same asymmetric specifications are available as last year (medium, hard and extra hard), they each boast a wider temperature operating range by incorporating the company’s improved soft and medium compound rubber, which makes them suitable for a greater number of Grands Prix. The rear slick tyre option in Le Mans combines soft compound rubber in the left shoulder with medium compound rubber in the right.
Following the postponement of the Japanese Grand Prix (thanks to a certain Icelandic volcano), Bridgestone is heading back to the scene of its pre-season testing in Jerez, Spain this weekend for the second round of the 2010 MotoGP Championship. The Jerez circuit is “a good test circuit because of the diversity of the corner layout”, says Tohru Ubukata, manager of Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Tyre Development Department. “This means that we require a tyre with a very balanced character to provide good handling from low speed to high speed and from flat corners through changes in elevation,” Ubukata continues.
The second season of Bridgestone’s sole tyre supply to MotoGP got underway at the Grand Prix of Qatar on April 11. On the championship’s official Dorna Sports’ operated website, chief coordinator of the Bridgestone MotoGP project, Thomas Scholz, has given an explanation of the new tyre allocation process in use this season.
Valentino Rossi won the first race of the season in spectacular style after an intense race-long battle between the top four, comprising his Fiat Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo who finished second having fought his way past both Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third, and a very close fourth-placed Nicky Hayden. Every rider but Pramac Racing’s Mika Kalli opted for the harder option front Bridgestone slick.
Bridgestone says that it has “adopted a different approach to slick tyre compound selection” for the inaugural race of the 2010 MotoGP season, which gets underway beneath the floodlights of the Losail circuit in Qatar on 11 April. The company is making its medium and extra hard compound slicks available for the front, with mediums and hards on the rear, signifying a change in policy not only from the softer compounds of 2009, but also in the doubling of the incremental change of the front fitments.
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