Reigning MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner claimed the fastest time of yesterdays official practice session atthe Circuito de Jerez leading a Bridgestone 1-2 on a damp track. Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, in his first official MotoGP session since switching to Bridgestone tyres, and completing his first ever laps using Bridgestone wet weather tyres, set the second quickest time, 1.3s behind Stoner’s Ducati. Several other Bridgestone-shod riders frequented the upper reaches of the classification with Kawasaki’s Anthony West in fourth, Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano in sixth, Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi in seventh and Alice Team’s Sylvain Guintoliin ninth. The results enabled all six teams supported by Bridgestone to end this first official session of the 2008 season in the top ten.
Stoner’s result makes him the first ever Bridgestone-shod rider to win the BMW car in the pre-season practice shoot-out. The now traditional qualifying-style session was also open to participating test riders with Ducati duo Vittoriano Guareschi and Niccolo Canepa, as well as Kawasaki’s Olivier Jacque taking part this afternoon.
Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
Was it nice to be back in true competitive action this afternoon?
“We may only be here in Jerez for a three-day test session but this afternoon’s official practice really allowed us to get back that race weekend feeling in anticipation of the new season. We are very happy that Casey has taken the fastest time and pleased to see two Bridgestone-shod riders in the top two positions. It was certainly not an easy session for the riders with some very difficult track conditions. It was not dry enough to allow our riders to switch to slick tyres, so were lied on the performance of our wet weather tyres in these tricky damp conditions. Casey’s time proved to be-insurmountable and he really deserves his new car.”
What about the performances of the other riders using Bridgestone tyres?
“Of our other riders, Valentino got up to speed very quickly with our wet tyres considering today has been his first time using them, so his performance was very strong. Anthony West was equally impressive in fourth on his Kawasaki, while Shinya Nakano is making a return to our tyres with Honda Gresini this season and proved he has lost none of his ability with sixth place. All our teams should be commended for their efforts this afternoon in difficult conditions in the middle of a busy three-day test session. We must remember that this is a test and we have a lot more preparatory work to carry out as Qatar draws ever closer.”
Bridgestone-shod riders’ practice classification
Pos - Rider - Team - Practice - Time - Gap
P1. Casey Stoner - Ducati 1m49.263s Fastest
P2. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha 1m50.580s +1.317s
P4. Anthony West - Kawasaki 1m50.799s +1.536s
P6. Shinya Nakano - Honda Gresini 1m51.594s +2.331s
P7. Loris Capirossi - Suzuki 1m51.894s +2.631s
P9. Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Team 1m52.058s+2.795s
P10. Marco Melandri - Ducati 1m52.238s+2.975s
P11. Alex de Angelis - Honda Gresini 1m52.463s+3.200s
P13. Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki 1m52.779s +3.516s
P15. Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki 1m53.283s+4.020s
P17. Vittoriano Guareschi - Ducati 1m54.694s +5.431s
P18. Niccolo Canepa - Ducati 1m57.453s+8.190s
P19. Toni Elias - Alice Team 1m57.698s +8.453s
Did Not Take Part: John Hopkins (Kawasaki)
Weather: Dry - Air 15°C, Track 12°C, Humidity 70% (taken from official MotoGP timing)
