MotoGP
French GP: Bridgestone Friday notes
Stoner takes close second on opening day in France Ducati Corse's Casey Stoner got his French GP preparations off to an encouraging start in Le Mans today as the reigning world champion finished a close second, just 0.049s from Dani Pedrosa's ...
Edited: May 18, 2008, 4:18 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Stoner takes close second on opening day in France
Ducati Corse's Casey Stoner got his French GP preparations off to an encouraging start in Le Mans today as the reigning world champion finished a close second, just 0.049s from Dani Pedrosa's pace-setting lap.
Five Bridgestone-shod teams have riders in the top half of the classification with last year's Le Mans winner Chris Vermeulen on the pace with fifth place aboard his Suzuki. Winner of the Chinese GP, Valentino Rossi, set the sixth fastest time of the day, but his best morning session lap was marginally quicker than his afternoon best. Honda Gresini duo Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis were in seventh and tenth positions respectively, while John Hopkins posted the ninth quickest time for Kawasaki.
Track temperatures hovered between 20 and 30 degrees in both sessions as clouds built up over the Bugatti circuit during the day. Both free practice sessions were held in totally dry conditions, though, enabling teams and tyre manufacturers to gain good initial data for the weekend ahead.
Bridgestone riders conducted the usual Friday tyre comparison programme, also looking at the latest rear tyre specification which has been designed specifically for the lower temperatures expected for this weekend. More work is required on honing the individual bike, machine, tyre packages, which will be the focus for tomorrow morning's practice session and first part of the afternoon qualifying hour.
Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
How have you approached this weekend's French Grand Prix?
"We expected the weather in Le Mans to be quite cool, so based on the performance of our tyres in the cooler conditions in Qatar and Jerez, we worked on developing a new specification rear tyre that could give us some improvements in such situations, and give our riders more feeling from the tyre when the asphalt temperature is low. We tested these tyres in the post-Estoril group test and brought them for all teams this weekend. All riders have selected this tyre in their allocation, and we conducted initial evaluation in today's free practice sessions."
Were you satisfied with the end results?
"Thankfully the weather remained dry in both sessions so we were able to carry out some important work. I am reasonably satisfied with the performance level in today's session, but there is more to be done to give the riders more grip and feeling throughout the lap. Casey and Ducati made some good improvements during the day and ultimately were able to lap as quickly as Dani, who seems to be very competitive again here. Chris and Suzuki also performed well today to get a strong top five placing. It has been a busy day, but we have to work overnight and continue to make progress tomorrow."
-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 French GP: Practice 1 times
Next article French GP: Repsol Honda Friday notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Dani Pedrosa
MotoGP to stage demo at F1 United States Grand Prix
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP to stage demo at F1 United States Grand Prix
Why Dani Pedrosa won't replace Maverick Vinales at Le Mans, despite his form
MotoGP
MotoGP
French GP
Why Dani Pedrosa won't replace Maverick Vinales at Le Mans, despite his form
Dani Pedrosa reveals the ‘crazy’ training that helped him master wet MotoGP races
MotoGP
MotoGP
Brazil GP
Dani Pedrosa reveals the ‘crazy’ training that helped him master wet MotoGP races
Latest news
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
6 h
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 6 h
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
8 h
Ryan Preece will switch to No. 6 for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
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