San Marino GP: Bridgestone Satuday notes

Stoner takes fourth consecutive pole with Misano masterpiece

Bridgestone-shod rider Casey Stoner has claimed his fourth consecutive MotoGP pole position and his fifth of the season at the new-look Misano World Circuit in Italy today. Stoner's success represents the sixth pole position on Bridgestone tyres in 2007, equal to the total number of Bridgestone-shod poles recorded last season.

The last rider to enjoy a run of four unbroken pole positions in the same season was today's second-placed man Valentino Rossi with five consecutive poles back in 2002, the same year that the first ever MotoGP pole on Bridgestone tyres was scored by Jeremy McWilliams.

A total of five riders on Bridgestone tyres made it to the top ten for tomorrow afternoon's grid with Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet and Suzuki's John Hopkins continuing their fine qualifying form in fourth and fifth places respectively. Australians Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) and Ant West (Kawasaki) finished the session in eighth and tenth.

After Friday's deluge forced the cancellation of two free practice sessions, an extended two-hour practice was held this morning to allow riders, teams and tyre manufacturers to learn the nuances of this new-look Misano track. As teams honed the set-up of their machines around the 4.18km clockwise circuit, Bridgestone was able to carry out the first evaluations of its dry weather tyres for tomorrow's 28-lap San Marino and Riviera di Rimini grand prix.

Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development

A good qualifying session for Bridgestone-shod riders with Casey Stoner on pole and De Puniet and Hopkins on the second row, did the qualifying tyres perform as expected? "The results of qualifying were very good with Casey taking another pole position. It is the sixth pole position on our tyres this season which means that we have now equalled the number of poles from last season. Randy and John have both been consistently strong in qualifying this season and today was no exception. A second row start for them will hopefully be of benefit to them here where overtaking could be tricky."

Specifically, what tyres have been tested today? "We have been running mainly with a variety of compounds within our medium specification range today and the results have been quite pleasing. In dry conditions, the circuit is not as slippery as we expected it to be which means that the asphalt has been less aggressive on the tyres. The lack of dry running yesterday, though, has not given us the chance to complete an unbroken long run today, so performance of the tyres over the 28 lap race distance remains a slightly unknown factor. We are nevertheless happy with the results from today and hope to enjoy a competitive race with our five teams tomorrow."

-credit: bridgestone