Bridgestone race report - MotoGP Round 7 Catalunya

Round 7: Catalunya GP – RaceCatalunya, Sunday 4 July 2010

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard—Rear: Hard, Extra Hard (asymmetric)

Jorge Lorenzo took his third victory in a row at Catalunya today in tricky conditions. He and his Yamaha M1 machine used the harder front and softer rear Bridgestone slicks most efficiently on a hot and slippery track.

After witnessing the performance of the softer slicks during yesterday’s qualifying session, during which they proved their durability and consistency even in such hot conditions, the softer option rear tire became the preferred race tire for many riders. Only Randy de Puniet, Loris Capirossi, Mika Kallio and Wataru Yoshikawa opted for the harder rear tire for the race. The softer rear slick proved to be the winning choice, being used by the top three riders.

Every rider with the exception of Hector Barbera favored the harder front slick tire because of the high track temperature that reached 55 degrees Celsius. The heavy braking points and the condition of the tarmac, which was not helped by the high temperature, tested the durability of the front tires as the front-runners pushed hard in their respective battles. Tire performance was consistent though and the final laps of Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner were within 0.9 seconds of their respective best efforts, which came within the first three laps of the 25-lap race.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director, Bridgestone Motorsport
“Congratulations to Jorge and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their third victory in a row today. Spain is an important market for us and it is great to see that MotoGP is so popular in this region. We invited many guests and VIPs to the circuit this weekend to experience Bridgestone’s activity in MotoGP, and this showcase of our technology continues to be very valuable for driving sales and OE supply negotiations. Our track signage was strong in Catalunya too and I am happy that through television and photography this helps us communicate the Bridgestone brand to a worldwide audience. I am looking forward to our involvement in many more grands prix.”

Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tire Development Department
“Last year we brought the same tire specifications to Catalunya and every rider chose the harder options. This year however even with a higher track temperature the softer option rear worked best in the race so I am very pleased with this and it shows how much the teams have improved their bike packages on our single supply tires. Front tire wear appearance was good but, as some riders experienced, such hot conditions like today can affect front stability under hard braking at this kind of tough circuit. Many riders were fighting for position until the end and with the high track temperature, the circuit’s nature and the less than ideal track conditions, this made the challenge for the tires quite severe, but the timesheets show that the consistency of both the front and rear slicks over race distance was good.”

Top ten classification (Sunday 14:00 GMT+2)