Itoh tests Bridgestone rain tyres on artificially wet track at Magny Cours

Pramac Honda Team test rider Shinichi Itoh completed two days of tests at Magny Cours on Wednesday, having tried out around fifty different Bridgestone rain tyres on the artificially sprayed track. The 3.2 kilometre short circuit at the French venue was soaked by special jets, allowing the Pramac Honda Team and Bridgestone technicians to try out a variety of rain materials, profiles and compounds that had not been subjected to in-depth testing during the season.

Itoh clocked up 85 laps on Tuesday and another 65 Wednesday using the Honda RC211V ridden by Makoto Tamada at Valencia in the final round of the season almost three weeks ago. Bridgestone explained that they were satisfied with the large quantities of data and references gathered during the test, which they will now use as part of their development programme for the 2004 season.