Bridgestone identify logistics as new preseason challenge

Bridgestone may not have to worry about staying one step ahead of the competition now that MotoGP has moved to a single-tyre regulation, but the Japanese rubber supplier will still have plenty of work to do over the winter break. However, whilst developing tyres was previously the priority, now the hard work will come in production.

`Compared to a competitive tyre situation, we will not be focusing on tyre development. However, there are still minor adjustments to be made, based on the data we have accumulated at these tests (the Suzuki/Kawasaki visit to Phillip Island and the MotoGP Official Test at Jerez) and also the Valencia test,´ says Tohru Ubukata, the company´s Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Manager.

`Our new challenge is ensuring that we produce sufficient tyres for all competitors next season and we also have to put all the logistics in place to ensure we provide good and fair service to all teams. This will keep us very busy.´

Bridgestone have yet to have a test with every rider present, the closest to this situation having been at Valencia (where only Tech 3 Yamaha´s James Toseland and Colin Edwards were absentees), but Ubukata is nonetheless happy with the assessments given by the new additions to their MotoGP project.

`This has been very good and over the course of next year we will have an enormous amount of rider feedback from all of the bikes on the grid. This is very useful for us as a company when we look to future tyre developments. The surprising thing from these two tests has been how positive all the riders have been about our tyres, and how quickly teams and riders have been able to adapt their bikes and riding styles to suit the Bridgestone tyres, even if they were not using them previously,´ he continues.

`From our perspective we wanted to assess the suitability of these tyres for next year´s races and in particular evaluate the tyre working range at these tests.

`In the cold -like at Jerez- the main consideration is grip levels and warm-up time. Philip Island allowed us to look at the higher range of temperatures, as the ambient temperature was around 25°C and the track temperature about 40°C. Here the main consideration is heat durability. In both locations the tyres worked well, so we are confident when we look ahead to 2009.´