British GP: Bridgestone race notes

Storming Stoner takes great British win on Bridgestone tyres

Round 08 - Great Britain - Race
Donington Park, Britain

Bridgestone-shod Ducati rider Casey Stoner extended his lead of the MotoGP world championship to 26 points after a storming victory at Donington Park in Britain this afternoon. His compatriot Chris Vermeulen added more Australian feeling to the podium, excelling in the damp-drying track conditions this afternoon to take his Suzuki to an excellent third place.

Persistent rain during the morning rendered Saturday's dry practice programme obsolete as riders were forced to switch to wet tyres for today's 30-lap race. Bridgestone's ten riders all opted for the soft option wet weather tyres, which were tested in the wet free practice sessions on Friday, and could benefit from the tyres longevity over the gruelling race distance even as a dry line developed towards the end of the race.

Suzuki's John Hopkins, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet and Pramac d'Antin's Alex Barros proved the strength in depth of Bridgestone's teams this afternoon claiming fifth, sixth and seventh positions respectively, while Alex Hofmann produced a strong ride to finish in ninth position.

Stoner's great British win takes his victory tally to five in eight races which equals the most wins by a single rider on Bridgestone tyres, a feat obtained by his team-mate Loris Capirossi. It was the sixth win on Bridgestone tyres this season and the first at Donington Park since Masao Azuma, now Bridgestone's field engineer for the Suzuki team, won in the 125cc class back in 1999.

Hiroshi Yamada- Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Sport Department
"That was another masterful race performance from Casey Stoner, so I would like to thank him and the Ducati team for another fantastic result. Chris Vermeulen also rode brilliantly to take the third podium for the Suzuki team this season, so well done to them. The weather conditions this weekend have been far from ideal but our teams have worked very well and the results today show that we can be confident in all types of weather. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to show a good performance in Britain, one of our toughest tracks in the past, and I hope the 85,000 loyal and passionate British fans who braved the weather today enjoyed the show."

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
"We have experienced a weekend of ever-changing weather conditions, but I am very happy with the competitiveness of our slick and wet weather tyres here in Donington. After the fully wet start, about halfway through the race a dry line started to emerge and our wet tyres showed that they could also withstand such intermediate conditions. All ten riders used the soft specification wet tyre for the first time in a GP and I am pleased with the durability in damp-drying conditions, something that did give us some concerns on Friday. Our slick tyres were more competitive here than in the past and I think we have found the British breakthrough we have been working hard to achieve."

Casey Stoner - Ducati Corse - Race Winner and Championship Leader
"Everything has been working very well here at Donington this weekend and the result is fantastic. The weather has played a big part but the Bridgestone tyres have been performing in both dry and wet conditions. Midway through the race when the track was starting to dry up, I was a little worried that maybe I was destroying the rear tyre, so I started going over all the wet patches that I could. I got to the last five laps and realised that the tyre was still okay and I had a pretty good feeling with it still, so I continued to use the dry line. The tyre still looked pretty good at the end of the race considering it was the softest option wet tyre we have, so thanks to Bridgestone for all their continued efforts."

-credit: bridgestone