Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric)
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa took his second win of the season at
home in Valencia,
marking his second victory since switching to Bridgestone tyres in the latter
stages of last season. After polesitter Casey Stoner suffered a highside crash
on the warm-up lap that ruled him out of the race, Pedrosa dominated from start
to finish.
Pedrosa opted for the harder option Bridgestone slick tyres
both front and rear, as in fact did the top four. World Champion Valentino
Rossi finished second followed by teammate Jorge Lorenzo, with Yamaha
stablemate Colin Edwards coming home fourth, equalling his second best premier
class result on Bridgestone tyres.
Fifth-placed Nicky Hayden was the first rider using the softer
front slick tyre to cross the line, finishing just ahead of Toni Elias who also
used the soft compound front slick. Seven riders in total used the softer front
tyre during the race, but only Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi chose to use
the softer rear tyre. Overall, the harder compounds proved the faster option
despite the cool and windy conditions.
Hiroshi Yamada, Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department said:
“I’d like to congratulate HRC and Dani for this result today;
his second victory on Bridgestone tyres. It is a great way for them to end the
season and they will surely start tomorrow’s test here at Valencia on a
high. I also think that Ben and the Sterilgarda Yamaha Team did a very good job
this weekend to finish seventh. Now we are at the end of the season some riders
and teams are leaving MotoGP, but I’d like to take this opportunity to thank
them for all their support and wish them all the very best in their respective
futures. I am happy with the way this season has gone for us, and that there
have been five different race winners and eleven different riders on the podium,
and I look forward to getting a taste of what we can look forward to in 2010 when
we start the official test tomorrow.”
Tohru Ubukata, Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development
Department said:
“Today the conditions got cooler again and the wind was
still high which made it tricky on track, and it was crucial for the riders to
warm their tyres up properly when they left the pits. When the wind is high
this circuit gets very dusty, and of course the layer of dust on the circuit
makes it slippery. The harder compound slicks were still the faster choice
despite the cooler track because of their extra durability over the 30-lap race
distance, but Nicky and Toni also finished well on the softer fronts, and
actually Toni set the fourth fastest lap of the race. Whilst the laptimes were
slower because of the cooler weather, the overall race time was good, just four
seconds from the fastest time set by Dani in 2007, so I am happy with this.”
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol
Honda Team Race Winner
said:
“I am very happy for this win because I really wanted it and
I was only thinking for the win here. In practice we struggled a lot but the
whole team did a great job. On the first lap it was difficult to warm up the
tyres very well, but after that we had good pace, actually better than I
expected. Towards the end the wind was coming and it was easy to make a
mistake, but we kept a good rhythm until the end and I am very happy.”
"The harder compound slicks were still the faster choice
today despite the cooler track because of their extra durability over the 30-lap race
distance, but Toni set the fourth fastest lap of the race using a soft front tyre"