Asymmetric rear slicks for Silverstone

MotoGP’s return to Silverstone after 24 years has provided official tyre supplier Bridgestone with the task of carefully selecting which compounds to provide for the premier class riders, and the company have pulled on their experience in Formula One to help inform their choice of medium and hard front and rear slicks – with an asymmetric option on the rear.

“I think that even though Silverstone has been modified since last year we have a lot of good track experience from our Formula One activities, and we can use this data to predict the severity of the circuit on our tyres,” explained Tohru Ubukata, Manager of Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Tyre Development Department. “Our Formula One experience at the circuit helps us enormously with our MotoGP tyre selection, and our engineers have also checked the tarmac just after the new circuit construction was completed to verify this data.”

The fast nature of the new layout, its eight left-handed corners and ten rights, and the abrasive track surface have all played their part in the selection.

“Silverstone is a fast circuit with some high lateral loads on the tyres, especially through corners such as Maggotts and Becketts, but there are also some areas of heavy braking such as for Stowe which focuses pressure on the centre section of the front tyre,” Ubukata described.

“This is the first visit for Bridgestone to Silverstone in motorcycling’s premier class but, based on the data we have collected on the tarmac’s character, expected temperature, the new circuit layout, and our F1 experience, I am confident that we have selected the correct tyre compounds to provide an exciting race.”