Canadian GP: Bridgestone preview

Bridgestone mounts Canada GP challenge

Bridgestone Motorsport heads to Montreal this week with its sights firmly set on some good results at the forthcoming Canadian Grand Prix, round nine of the FIA Formula One World Championship. As part of the preparations for the double header of races coming up (Canada and U.S.A), Bridgestone's teams have been testing at the Italian circuit of Monza and the French circuit of Paul Ricard.

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport:

"The Canadian Grand Prix marks the half way point of the 2006 season. Bridgestone equipped teams have traditionally gone well in Montreal so we are looking forward to seeing our teams push hard over the next couple of weeks for podiums and points."

"Canada is also a particularly strong market for Bridgestone and I am delighted that our sales company there has a great marketing and promotional programme already in progress to really bring Formula One into the limelight. We have always received a great deal of support in Canada and it is a fantastic way to give something back to the fans."

Tyres for Montreal -- 4.361 km

The 2006 tyre regulations permit each driver seven sets of dry tyres, four sets of wet weather tyres and three sets of extreme wet weather tyres. Combined with the increased number of teams running with Bridgestone in 2006, approximately 1,200 Bridgestone Potenza Formula One tyres are being sent from the Technical Centre in Kodaira City, Tokyo, to Canada.

Hisao Suganuma, Bridgestone Motorsport Technical Manager:

"The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is one of the fastest circuits on the F1 calendar with a relatively smooth track surface so three of our teams recently concentrated their testing efforts on the Monza and Paul Ricard tracks. Monza in particular is good for checking tyre construction durability due to its high speed nature."

"We gained some encouraging feedback from those tests and as a result we will be taking a combination of current and new tyre specifications. These specifications will be from the softer side of the compound range to suit the smooth surface. We will need to monitor closely the heat durability of the tyres because of the track's high speed nature but we believe we have a good selection of specifications which will be competitive in Montreal."

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