MotoGP Phillip Island: Bridgestone speaks after the Flag To Flag decision

Shinji Aoki, Head of Bridgestone Motorsport Tire Development Department, spoke after the second day of MotoGP testing at Phillip Island, which saw the sole supplier's tires go into crisis. In the end, for a safety issue, the race direction decided that there will be a flag-to-flag race. In practice, the riders will have to stop halfway through the race to change bikes, to ensure that the rear tire does not heat up too much. The word is up to him.

“The new asphalt at Phillip Island meant that the track record was broken, but we didn't think it could be lowered by such a margin; it was a very pleasant result. We saw after FP3 that tire temperatures were extremely high, so we offered an extra-hard rear specification to evaluate in FP4. However, this option did not work well, so we will give the riders the hard tire in the race. Both of our extra plush and soft front slick tires were used and rider feedback was that both work well. We knew that temperatures would be higher at Phillip Island this year, but not to extreme levels. After analyzing the tires used after today's sessions we have decided that the maximum safe distance that our rear slick tires can do is fourteen laps. After a briefing between Bridgestone, Dorna and FIM on how to best manage rider safety, race direction has decided that there will be a flag-to-flag race.”