Bridgestone aim to learn key Losail lessons

Casey Stoners sensational win at the Losail International circuit last weekend took the edge off an otherwise difficult visit to the desert track for tyre suppliers Bridgestone, who only had two further riders in the top ten.

The additional pair were Italians Valeninto Rossi - the Fiat Yamaha rider finishing his Bridgestone debut in fifth place - and Loris Capirossi, who marked his maiden Rizla Suzuki race with an eighth place finish.

Qatar has never been an easy venue for Bridgestone and last weekend was no exception, with a fundamental lack of grip in the cooler night-time conditions experienced by many of their riders.

Reviewing the first round of the season Hirohide Hamashima, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Race Tyre Development, commented: From a technical perspective, we faced a tough challenge in Qatar, so it is of course great to see Casey Stoner and the Ducati team take another win using our tyres. Generally, we have struggled for performance compared to our rivals, both with race and qualifying tyres.

Casey was the only Bridgestone rider to get competitiveness from the race tyres over the full race distance, and he set some very impressive times, but the results from other riders on our tyres shows that we have more work to do on our low temperature compounds.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, added: We know it has not been easy here in Qatar, but we have done our best to supply each of our teams with the most competitive tyres possible. All our teams have given their maximum this weekend and our thanks go to each of them for their efforts.