Ducati’s Casey Stoner scored his third consecutive victory of the season at a wet Sachsenring yesterday leading an all-Bridgestone podium with Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi in second place, and Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen in third. The thirty lap race was held in difficult wet conditions, but Bridgestone’s wet weather tyres proved competitive for the full race distance.
Eight Bridgestone-shod riders finished in the top ten today at a circuit where success has previously eluded the tyre manufacturer. Stoner’s win represents the first time a rider on Bridgestone tyres has won at Sachsenring. Rossi’s second place takes him back to the top of the championship with a 16-point margin over Dani Pedrosa, who did not score points in today’s race. Stoner’s 25 points for the win bring him to within four points of second place in the standings heading into the United States GP at Laguna Seca next weekend, where Bridgestone enjoyed a podium clean sweep with Stoner in dominant form.
Vermeulen’s third place today marks his and Suzuki’s first podium of the season and elevates him to seventh in the championship. San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Alex De Angelis missed out on his debut MotoGP podium by just 0.1s but claimed an excellent fourth position right behind Vermeulen, equalling his best result of the season.
Alice Team rider Sylvain Guintoli took his best result of the year with a fine sixth position ahead of Loris Capirossi in seventh for Rizla Suzuki. De Angelis’s team-mate Shinya Nakano took ninth spot, while Kawasaki ensured all six Bridgestone-supported teams achieved top ten results with Anthony West in tenth.
Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit “It was a tough race for everyone today, but it was a fantastic feeling to see the podium filled with red Bridgestone caps for the first time this season. Casey’s performance this weekend has been outstanding, and his win today was truly deserved. Valentino and Chris also rode very well to second and third positions, so well done to them for this achievement. All our teams showed a good performance level and I’d like to thank each of them for today’s result. To see so many of our riders finish in the top ten is always a pleasure and today is certainly no exception. A lot of our on-track team come from Germany, so it is a fitting result, and the fact that it is the first MotoGP win on Bridgestone tyres at Sachsenring makes it even more special.”
Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “Sachsenring is always one of our biggest technical challenges of the season and I am so pleased with this result and the general performance of our wet weather tyres. Most of our riders used the harder of our two soft wet tyre specifications and the durability of these tyres over 30 demanding laps, especially on the left-hand side, was good. In the initial laps, the tyres naturally took some time to get up to the optimum temperature but the lap times after that were quick and consistent with Chris and Alex setting their fastest laps on the final lap when they were fighting for the final podium place.”
Casey Stoner – Ducati Corse – Race Winner ”I saw Dani riding off into the distance and I thought 'fair play.There was no way I was going to go that fast in those conditions at that time. We used a harder compound on the tyres today and they were taking time to warm up. Then I saw Dani tumbling and rolling in the gravel. Given his past record in the wet, he was riding very well up until then. From then on it was just a matter of making sure of increasing a small advantage with every lap. Thanks to the team for everything, and it's nice to close the championship up a bit more.”
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 47m30.057s Winner Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P2. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 47m33.765s +3.708s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P3. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 47m44.059s +14.002s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P4. Alex De Angelis - San Carlo Honda Gresini 47m44.181 +14.124s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P6. Sylvain Guintoli - Alice Team 48m16.705s +46.648s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P7. Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 48m34.540s +1m04.483s Wet-Soft Wet-Soft
P9. Shinya Nakano - San Carlo Honda Gresini 48m46.830s +1m16.773s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P10. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team 48m59.332s +1m29.275s Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
P12. Toni Elias Alice - Team 47m43.954s +1 lap Wet-Soft Wet-Soft
DNF: Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 14m50.161s +21 laps Wet-Medium Wet-Soft
Weather: Wet – Air 14°C, Track 17°C
