Casey Stoner took a dominant victory aboard his Bridgestone-shod Ducati in this afternoon’s British Grand Prix, leading home Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi by almost six seconds to secure the second Bridgestone 1-2 of the season. It is the fifth Bridgestone-shod victory in eight races after Stoner’s season-opening win in Qatar and Rossi’s trio of wins in Shanghai, Le Mans and Mugello. Stoner has been in scintillating form around Donington Park all weekend, whether in the dry or wet conditions, and followed up his second pole position of the season with his second victory of the year to jump to third place in the championship.
Stoner’s win is his second consecutive Donington win, but marks the first time that a Bridgestone-shod rider has ever taken victory in the dry at the British track, after 2007’s success in wet conditions.
Rossi’s second place extends his championship lead over Dani Pedrosa to eleven points, as the Spaniard completed this afternoon’s podium in third position. Three additional Bridgestone riders took top ten finishes today with Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen in eighth, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Shinya Nakano in ninth and Kawasaki’s Anthony West scoring his best result of the season in tenth place. After a rain-hit qualifying session, in which Stoner, Rossi and Vermeulen took an all-Bridgestone front row, race day remained dry, but windy, and enabled Bridgestone to introduce a new rear tyre compound to combat the demands of the Donington track.
Britain has traditionally been a difficult circuit for Bridgestone. The previous best result in dry conditions was eighth place in 2004 and 2006, set on both occasions by John Hopkins on a Suzuki. The championship moves to Assen for the Dutch TT next week, another circuit where Bridgestone has yet to taste victory.
Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport
“That was a highly enjoyable race and congratulations must go first and foremost to Casey and the Ducati Corse team for their second win of the season. This victory was certainly very well deserved after a competitive showing all weekend and it is great to see them back to winning ways. Valentino and Fiat Yamaha also had a strong race and second place today helps enhance their championship lead. It is always a pleasure to see 1-2 results on our tyres, but this result is particularly special considering the difficulties we have faced here in the past in the dry conditions. Finally, I’d like to express my thanks to all our teams for their continued efforts and support.”
Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development“I am extremely pleased with this afternoon’s result. Donington in the dry has always been a tough challenge for us, so the tyre performance and consistency in today’s long 30-lap race was very satisfying. Casey has been exceptional this weekend and thoroughly deserves his second win of the season. It is great to see him and Ducati back on top form. Valentino also rode a good race and set some consistent times on his way to second position. We introduced a new rear compound this weekend, designed specifically to combat the demands of this type of track, and most riders opted to run this compound in the race. The results of Casey and Valentino show that our development is heading in a good direction.”
Casey Stoner – Ducati Corse – Race Winner ”This weekend, we have been fast right from the first practice session, and we have been competitive in both dry and wet conditions. It is a great feeling to be back on the top step of the podium. I have to thank the mechanics because they have been working hard to solve the problems we have been having, and I hope this is something that will be equally beneficial for the future races. Thanks also to Bridgestone, we were able to set fast and consistent lap times all weekend, and also be very strong with the wet tyres.”
Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Race Results and Tyre Choices Pos. Rider Team Race Time Gap Front Tyre (all 16.5’’) Rear Tyre (all 16.5’’) P1. Casey Stoner - Ducati Corse 44m44.982s Winner Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
P2. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 44m50.771s +5.789s Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
P8. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45m06.648s +21.666s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium
P9. Shinya Nakano - San Carlo Honda Gresini 45m14.336s +29.354s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard
P10. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team 45m26.012s +41.030s Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
P11. Toni Elias - Alice Team 45m29.408s +44.426s Slick-Soft Slick-Soft
P13. Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Team 45m33.713s +48.731s Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
P14. Ben Spies - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 45m34.573s +49.591s Slick-Medium Slick-Hard
P15. Alex de Angelis - San Carlo Honda Gresini 46m07.168s +1m22.186s Slick-Medium Slick-Medium
P16. Marco Melandri - Ducati Corse 46m15.003s +1m30.021s Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
DNF John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 24m18.021s +14 laps Slick-Soft Slick-Medium
Weather: Dry – Air 20°C, Track 26°C
