MotoGP
US GP: Bridgestone preview
Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric) Round nine of the season takes the MotoGP paddock to North America for the first time in 2010, to the peninsula of Monterey on the west cost of California.
Edited: Jul 22, 2010, 1:43 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Bridgestone slick compounds available:
Front: Medium, Hard.
Rear: Medium, Hard (asymmetric)
Round nine of the season takes the MotoGP paddock to North America for the first time in 2010, to the peninsula of Monterey on the west cost of California. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is one of the most famous and iconic circuits on the calendar, and this season Bridgestone have adopted a different approach.
This year Bridgestone have selected asymmetric rear slick tyres for the United States Grand Prix, having listened to calls from riders following last year's race.
The asymmetric rear slicks comprise a harder compound in the left shoulder, for improved durability and stability at high temperature, and a softer compound in the right shoulder, for improved warm-up performance. This softer right shoulder will be particularly beneficial through turns three, four and ten, the circuit's main right-handed corners.
Laguna Seca is the shortest circuit on the calendar with a short main straight of just 0.9km, meaning the tyres spend less time upright and therefore have less time to cool down, resulting in higher tyre temperatures than the ambient and track conditions would suggest.
The circuit's elevation changes, particularly through the Corkscrew complex, require a good machine setup, and place a lot of importance on the performance of the front tyre.
Hiroshi Yamada - Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
"This is our first visit to America this year, and it is always exciting to go to a world-famous circuit such as Laguna Seca. The circuit has produced some memorable MotoGP battles in recent times, and there have been four different winners in as many years, so I am looking forward to another good race. I think this grand prix also demonstrates well our philosophy in MotoGP, which is to continually improvement and provide the best support to teams and riders we can. After listening to comments from last year, we have selected asymmetric rear tyres for this season which I believe will help increase the safety for riders and improve the show."
Tohru Ubukata - Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department
"Laguna Seca is the shortest circuit on the calendar but this doesn't make it any easier for the tyres. The Corkscrew is a really demanding corner with the fast change of direction and elevation and a strong front tyre is very important to cope with the elevation changes. Performance through the right-handed corners is critical, and this is where we have focused our improvements this year.
"Last year we saw some crashes through turn ten during qualifying and we spoke at length with the riders, listened carefully to what they had to say and deeply analysed the situation, and as a result we have selected asymmetric rear tyres for this year to give the riders more confidence and better grip through the right-handers. The softer right shoulder has a wider temperature operating range and better warm-up, so I am feeling confident about tyre performance."
-source: 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 German GP: Bridgestone post-race debrief
Next article German GP: Team Aspar race report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
Latest news
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
5 min
Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed
Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
29 min
Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
2 h
WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash
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