Bridgestone slick compounds
available: Front: Soft, Medium. Rear: Medium,
Hard (asymmetric)
Casey Stoner
took his third pole position of the season in Valencia today using the harder of
the available front slick tyres and the softer rear Bridgestone. There was a
strong wind again today which made it very difficult for the riders, especially
as the wind carried dust onto the circuit.
This resulted
in front tyre choices throughout the field being divided half and half between
the soft and the medium compounds. Of the top six, third-placed Jorge Lorenzo
was the only rider to choose the softer option front slick, the rest using the
harder variant to set their best time.
Dani Pedrosa
was second fastest using a harder front and softer rear slick, Lorenzo was
third on the softer option tyres both front and rear, and Valentino Rossi was
fourth on the hard front and soft rear. The top three all lapped faster than
the existing circuit lap record, set by Stoner on a Bridgestone-shod Ducati
last season.
Tohru Ubukata, Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre
Development Department said:
“During qualifying the front tyre
choice was split throughout the field which again shows the overlap between the
operating ranges of the soft and medium front tyre compounds. I think that the
reason for the split choices came down to what each rider felt more comfortable
with as a part of the whole bike, rider and tyre package in the dusty and windy
conditions which made it very tricky.
“In the morning’s practice and
during qualifying it was very windy, and the wind affects the bikes a lot here
so it was difficult to set a good laptime. The dusty track also meant that achieving
good edge grip from the tyres was tricky, especially at this twisty circuit. Nevertheless,
the top three went faster than the existing lap record, set by Casey last year
on our tyres, so I am pleased with this as it shows that both compounds of our
slick tyre are performing well even in these conditions. If the weather
tomorrow is similar, I expect riders’ front tyre choices to be divided again,
but the hard compound asymmetric slick to be preferable for the rear.”
"The dusty track meant that achieving
good edge grip from the tyres was tricky, but the top three still went faster than the existing lap record"