German GP: Bridgestone Friday report

Pedrosa tops timesheets on extra hard Bridgestone slicks As the track temperature reached 52 degrees Celsius at Sachsenring, Dani Pedrosa set the pace in free practice one using Bridgestone's extra hard compound slicks front and rear. The demands ...

Pedrosa tops timesheets on extra hard Bridgestone slicks

As the track temperature reached 52 degrees Celsius at Sachsenring, Dani Pedrosa set the pace in free practice one using Bridgestone's extra hard compound slicks front and rear. The demands of the East German circuit, coupled with its very abrasive tarmac, mean that it is only the second time this season that the extra hard compound slicks have been used.

The Repsol Honda rider's fastest lap after the first hour of running this weekend was already within 0.4seconds of his own lap record set last year.

Second fastest was Casey Stoner, also using the harder option front and rear Bridgestone slicks, just ahead of his Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden whose best lap came using the harder front but the softer rear slick tyre.

Sachsenring newcomer Ben Spies finished fourth after just his first hour of running at the circuit, at the front of a very close group of six riders; the gap separating Spies to Marco Melandri in ninth was just 0.1seconds.

Valentino Rossi was back in action for the Fiat Yamaha Team today for the first time since being sidelined with injury at Mugello. The Italian's fastest lap came using Bridgestone's softer slicks and on his last lap of the session, in which he completed just one lap short of race distance, and was just 0.7seconds adrift from Pedrosa.

Tohru Ubukata - Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

"Sachsenring is an incredibly abrasive circuit, and at the beginning of the session the track was a little dirty so this contributed to riders experiencing slight graining of the front tyre, but in the second half of the session the track cleaned and this stopped. Still though Valentino only used one softer front and rear tyre for the whole session and his best time came after 29 laps, indicating good durability and that this graining didn't affect performance.

"The track conditions at the end of the session were good and already the times at the front are very fast, close to the lap record, so I am happy. Almost all riders used both tyre options during the session, indicating that both are working well. Casey set his best time on the harder rear whereas Nicky set his best on the softer rear, indicating the good overlap in performance of both slick tyre options here in Germany."