MotoGP: Bridgestone ready for the Le Mans "challenge".

The fourth round of the 2013 MotoGP season which will take place next Sunday on the Le Mans circuit is one of the most challenging for Bridgestone. The circuit made up of seven braking sections and slow stop-and-go corners, combined with generally cool temperatures, "forces" the sole tire supplier to bring soft compound tyres. These guarantee rapid heating and excellent adhesion.

In France, Bridgestone rear slick tires will be available in extra-soft and soft compounds for CRT drivers and soft and medium compounds for prototype drivers. The soft and medium rear slick tires will be asymmetrical, with the harder rubber on the right shoulder, while the extra-soft rear will be symmetrical. The front slick tires for Le Mans will instead be made of an extra-soft and soft compound. To ensure adequate warm-up in wet conditions, the wet tire will be a soft compound.

“Le Mans is susceptible to unstable weather and this can lead to some interesting results. "Forecasts indicate that we could once again have cool, wet weather on the race weekend," he said Hiroshi Yamada, Head of Bridgestone Motorsport – If the conditions are changeable I expect a particularly challenging weekend for all the teams. We have had an exciting start to the season and it is exciting to race at Le Mans, one of the most famous circuits in all of motorsport. I am happy to know that Karel Abraham will be back on track after his absence due to injury and I wish Ben Spies all the best and wish him a quick and full recovery from his shoulder injury.”

“Le Mans is a slippery and smooth circuit and often in this race the track temperature can be very low, so we bring the slicks with softer compounds to guarantee adequate heating performance and grip – he added Shinji Aoki, Head of Bridgestone Motorsport Tire Development Department – The circuit is stop-and-go type and in general the lateral loads on the tires are low, which is another reason why we provide softer compounds here. Another performance requirement here is to provide tires that guarantee maximum braking stability. The circuit has an unbalanced layout that uses the right shoulders more than the left ones, especially exiting turn nine, so the soft and medium rear slicks are asymmetrical with harder rubber on the right shoulder, while for the CRTs they have an extra-soft specification of symmetrical construction. Unstable weather at Le Mans can have a significant impact on the set-up of the bikes and tire choice can be different from session to session. As for the wet tire, it will be a soft compound.”

Slick Bridgestone compounds:
front: extra-soft, soft
back: extra-soft (Symmetric), Soft, Medium (asymmetric)
Wet compounds available: soft (Main), Hard (alternative)