Ducati Corse rider Loris Capirossi claimed an exceptional second place at the Sachsenring this afternoon after a very difficult 30-lap race for Bridgestone-shod riders in extremely hot conditions at the German GP. The result was Capirossi’s second podium finish of the 2007 season and fourteenth in total on Bridgestone tyres in his career. In spite of the sweltering conditions, a further six riders on Bridgestone tyres took valuable top ten positions with Casey Stoner extending his lead of the championship by eleven points courtesy of a valiantly-fought fifth position. Honda Gresini rider Marco Melandri finished just behind Stoner in sixth place after a competitive weekend for the Italian.
John Hopkins battled hard for seventh place ahead of a trio of equally impressive rides from Anthony West in eighth, Alex Hofmann in ninth and Michel Fabrizio, who took tenth place in a one-off ride as stand-in for injured Honda Gresini rider Toni Elias. As predicted, track temperatures soared during the race, placing even greater stress on the left-hand side of the tyre, which is already put under intense pressure around the asymmetrical Sachsenring track. The unrelenting demands over a thirty-lap race distance proved too much for Bridgestone’s range of hard compound rear tyres which were unable to sustain the competitive level that was seen in all free practice sessions and in the first half of the race.
Hiroshi Yamada- Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Sport Department “Thanks to Loris and Ducati for a truly remarkable performance this afternoon in very tough conditions to take the first MotoGP podium at Sachsenring on Bridgestone tyres. I would also like to express my thanks to all our riders who endured a very difficult and physical race, especially in the closing stages. As expected the track temperatures were very high during today’s GP (Bridgestone engineers measured temperatures in excess of fifty degrees) and this put our tyres under increasing pressure, preventing our riders from maintaining over the full race distance the strong pace that was seen in the initial laps. Therefore, we must be critical of our performance today because we have to make sure that our tyres can cope with whatever situation we are presented with. That said, we take consolation from Loris’s second place after an otherwise tough race for Bridgestone today.”
Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development“This has been one of the most technically demanding races of the season for us and the performance of our tyres this afternoon was largely dictated by the heat. Around Sachsenring, the left hand side of the tyre is always put under great stress, but with the additional track heat, the tyres start to degrade even more quickly. As the heat continually increases on the left-hand side, the rubber starts to wear off, resulting in the drop in lap times that we saw from our riders in the second half of the race. Michel Fabrizio, in his first race on our tyres, opted for the 16’’ rear which, interestingly, did not show such severe degradation, so this is an interesting element for us to investigate further.”
Bridgestone Race Results: Front (all 16.5’’) RearP2. Loris Capirossi - Ducati 42m06.362s +13.166s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P5. Casey Stoner - Ducati 42m24.622s +31.426s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P6. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini 42m25.113s +31.917s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P7. John Hopkins - Suzuki 42m26.591s +33.395s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P8. Anthony West - Kawasaki 42m34.390s +41.194s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P9. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d’Antin 42m36.410s +43.214s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
P10. Michel Fabrizio - Honda Gresini 42m37.655s +44.459s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16’’)
P11 Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki 42m55.090s +1m01.894s - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
DNF Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki 41m46.308s DNF - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
DNF Alex Barros - Pramac d’Antin 12m41.157s DNF - Slick Hard Slick Hard (16.5’’)
Weather: Dry
Air: 33°C
Track: 41°C
Humidity: 28%
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