Jerez gives Bridgestone plenty of positives to process

The Gran Premio bwin de España proved not only a great spectacle for fans but also a success for MotoGP’s Official tyre supplier Bridgestone, who gathered some excellent feedback and results from the weekend.

All 17 of the MotoGP riders went for the hard front compound option (with a medium option also on offer), and Aleix Espargaró was the sole rider to not opt for the medium rear tyre, instead choosing the soft compound.

The combination selected by the majority of the field resulted in an excellent race with Dani Pedrosa setting a new circuit lap record of 1’39.731 on lap two, and a new fastest total race time was also laid down. The durability of the tyres used was also displayed by race winner Jorge Lorenzo’s ability to climb from his early position of fifth to beat Pedrosa for victory on the final lap, and Bridgestone Tyre Development Manager Tohru Ubukata was extremely pleased with what his company were able to take from the race.

“I am happy because we were able to see two benefits of our improved rear tyre compounds here in Jerez – improved peak grip leading to a new lap record, and increased durability leading to a faster total race time,” he explained. “Of course warm-up performance was never going to be an issue with the high track and ambient temperatures in Spain, but still I can say that we received positive feedback from the riders.”

He continued: “There was also a good overlap of performance between the harder and the softer rear tyres. Although every rider apart from Aleix used the harder option for the race, on Friday and Saturday there was a good mix of riders using both compounds. We saw that the harder option could be used and worked well when the track was cooler, during free practice two on Saturday morning, and that the softer option gave good performance even when the track temperature rose by 17ºC by Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session.”

“Tyre performance was good, as shown by the new lap record. Wear rates were as expected, and the fact that Jorge set his personal best time three laps from the end of the race demonstrates good durability and consistent performance,” he added.

The race weekend was followed by a one-day Test at the Andalusian track on Monday, where the likes of Fiat Yamaha duo Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, Rizla Suzuki pair Loris Capirossi and Álvaro Bautista, and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Colin Edwards were amongst those who tried out a new front tyre for Bridgestone.

“We continued our developmental front slick tyre testing, providing each rider with one test tyre in addition to their normal test allocation,” explained Ubukata. “In-season testing is very limited so I’d especially like to thank the teams and riders for their support of Bridgestone in testing these tyres to allow us to gain valuable data that will be important for future tyre development.”