MotoGP – Bridgestone's balance sheet from the tests in Sepang

A few days after the conclusion of the last MotoGP test on the Sepang circuit, Tohru Ubukata, responsible for the development of Bridgestone race tyres, took stock of the tests in Malaysia, where the Japanese brand supported seven riders representing Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda, namely Valentino Rossi, Alex De Angelis, Shinya Nakano, the Kawasaki testers Jacque and Serizawa as well as the Yamaha testers, Yoshikawa and Fujiwara.

“Several of our teams who had participated in the previous tests in Sepang and Phillip Island have decided not to come to this week's test”, Ubukata explained, “but with Rossi, De Angelis and Nakano we gathered further fundamental information for the development of the tyres, and we also managed to confirm the results obtained in the last test in January. We had no problems and achieved encouraging times, on the other hand the circuit conditions had improved compared to January, and this allowed us to attempt some significant race simulations".

The Japanese manager then spoke about Bridgestone's plans for the next tests scheduled for Saturday 16 February on the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. “We will be present with all six teams. We will focus on the race set-up, as this will also be a good opportunity to prepare for the Grand Prix which will be held at this circuit at the end of March. We will also continue with our development work on the race tyres, comparing the Phillip Island and Sepang tires at lower temperatures.".

Ubukata also talked about the qualifying tyres: “In Jerez, all our drivers want the chance to win the car (BMW) in the official practice session, so we will do everything we can with our qualifying tires to boost their chances.”.

Marika Farinazzo