All six teams using Bridgestone tyres performed strongly in today’s opening two practice rounds at the Shanghai International Circuit, in preparation for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was the quickest rider over the entire day, and was the only man to lap under the 2-minute mark, setting a best lap time of 1m59.906s in this morning’s session. Fastest this afternoon was last year’s Chinese race winner Casey Stoner, whose best time of 2m00.163 placed him strongly in second position in the combined practice classification after a competitive day for the reigning champion.
The strength in depth of Bridgestone’s teams was highlighted by the performance of San Carlo Honda Gresini duo Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis, who excelled in fourth and seventh positions respectively. Kawasaki’s John Hopkins continued where he left off in Estoril with a strong fifth place, Loris Capirossi made the top eight for Suzuki, while the ever-improving Alice Team were unlucky to miss out on the top ten with Toni Elias in a nevertheless encouraging 11th place.
Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre DevelopmentAre you satisfied with the outcome of today’s practice sessions? “I think it has been a very satisfactory first day for us, and we have seen all six of our teams able to compete for top ten positions throughout both practice sessions. Such performances would indicate that our tyres have competitive pace here in the conditions we have seen today, so I am quite pleased so far. Naturally, this is only the first day and there is not much separating the top riders so we have more important evaluation work to carry out tomorrow morning to make sure we are in the best shape for Sunday’s race.”
What range of tyres has been evaluated today?“Some of our riders used this afternoon’s session to run with our latest specification rear tyres, but we have also looked at our existing generation of rear and front tyres. In the hotter conditions this afternoon we tested our hardest available compound with some riders and even this showed a good performance level. Generally, across our range of tyres, the grip levels have been good and there is a lot of potential. However, we need to look more closely at the tyre performance over longer runs to assess the durability in race trim, something that we hope to accomplish during tomorrow.”
Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results:Pos. - Rider - Team - Session 1 (pos) - Session 2 (pos) - Gap P1. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m59.906s (P1) 2m00.215s (P2) Fastest
P2. Casey Stoner - Ducati Corse 2m00.318s (P2) 2m00.163s (P1) +0.257s
P4. Shinya Nakano - San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m01.513s (P9) 2m00.553s (P4) +0.647s
P5. John Hopkins - Kawasaki Racing Team 2m01.153s (P5) 2m00.591s (P5) +0.685s
P7. Alex de Angelis - San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m02.091s (P13) 2m00.931s (P7) +1.025s
P8. Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m01.249s (P6) 2m00.964s (P8) +1.068s
P11. Toni Elias - Alice Team 2m02.199s (P14) 2m01.326s (P11) +1.420s
P12. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m01.588s (P10) 2m01.504s (P12) +1.598s
P14. Marco Melandri - Ducati Corse 2m04.857s (P18) 2m01.913s (P14) +2.007s
P15. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team 2m01.984s (P11) 2m02.002s (P15) +2.078s
P17. Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Team 2m03.174s (P17) 2m02.348s (P16) +2.442s
Weather: Session 1: Dry – Air 25°C, Track 40°C (Bridgestone measurement)
Session 2: Dry – Air 28°C, Track 50°C (Bridgestone measurement)
