MotoGP
Czech GP: Bridgestone Friday notes
Fresh from the traditional summer break, Bridgestone-shod riders were quickly back on the race pace during the opening two free practice sessions in preparation for this weekend's Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno with ...
Published: Aug 17, 2007, 8:22 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Fresh from the traditional summer break, Bridgestone-shod riders were quickly back on the race pace during the opening two free practice sessions in preparation for this weekend's Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno with Ducati's championship-leading rider Casey Stoner showing impressive form. The Australian only relinquished his control of today's classification to a last-gasp one-lap flier from Tech 3 Yamaha's French rider Sylvain Guintoli.
In race trim, Stoner is in good company at the head of the list with fellow Bridgestone-shod rider John Hopkins taking an overall third place and his team-mate Loris Capirossi, winner of last year's Czech Republic GP, in fourth place, the only other man to lap under 1m59s.
Stoner set an impressive seven laps underneath the 1m59s mark in this afternoon's session. His ultimate best time of 1m58.568s was just 0.4s shy of the record Brno race lap set by Capirossi on his way to victory on Bridgestone tyres last season.
Proving the competitiveness of the field, Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet made it four Bridgestone-shod riders from three different manufacturers in the top five this afternoon.
Tyre Talk with Junichi Kawajiri - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
Did Bridgestone have a welcome return to track action in Brno today? "After such a long break, it is good to be back in action here in Brno, the scene of one of our four victories last season. We have had a relatively trouble-free opening day, which has helped us get back into a good working rhythm, and so far the lap times set by our teams and riders appear to be already at a competitive level. We had a little light rain overnight and it has been cooler today compared to the hot temperatures we had yesterday, but I would say that the track is showing similar characteristics to what we experienced last season."
What work has been carried out today? "Brno is a very technical circuit which places a great importance on the set-up of the bike, so it has been important to give our teams a tyre that works well from the start, to maximise their time to work on the bike. We did some initial tyre compound evaluation which has given us a good direction for tomorrow when we will carry out longer runs to assess the durability. Our tyres have performed well over the shorter runs that we have done in today's cooler conditions, but if the temperature changes a lot, we will have to see how the performance of the tyre changes. Overall though, it has been a satisfactory start to the weekend."
-credit: bridgestone
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Czech GP: Practice 1 times
Next article Czech GP: Kawasaki Racing Team Friday notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Sylvain Guintoli
MotoGP riders’ association in the works, Guintoli set to lead it
MotoGP
MotoGP
Indonesian GP
MotoGP riders’ association in the works, Guintoli set to lead it
Suzuki's Guintoli to miss Suzuka 8 Hours due to injury
FIM Endurance
FIM Endurance
Suzuka 8 Hours
Suzuki's Guintoli to miss Suzuka 8 Hours due to injury
"Angry" Espargaro wants warning for stand-in riders
MotoGP
MotoGP
British GP
"Angry" Espargaro wants warning for stand-in riders
Latest news
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
3 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
4 h
Catching Larson in the NASCAR Chase has to start at track where 'I suck'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe