MotoGP: Phillip Island unusual track for Bridgestone

Bridgestone is preparing to face the Australian trip to Phillip Island (third to last stage of the 2011 world championship) by selecting the tire with a softer compound on the rear to improve rider safety and guarantee the optimal operating temperature in the morning test sessions. Located on the southern coast of Australia, the Phillip Island track is notoriously one of the most spectacular on the MotoGP calendar and is the most demanding of the season for the left side of the rear tyre. By contrast, the loads on the front tire are minimal. The type of asymmetric rear tire selected for the Australian circuit compared to last year presents an improvement in construction and temperature resistance capacity and for this reason compared to 2010 the compounds available are of a softer grade. Both options available feature an extra soft tire in the right shoulder to maximize warm-up performance and rider safety in the first laps. Tires with this special construction have already been tested this season on the challenging Sachsenring track.

Hiroshi Yamada – Head of Bridgestone Motorsport: “Casey goes into the Australian Grand Prix with a 40-point advantage over Jorge and therefore if he wins, as he has done for the last four years in a row at his home grand prix, he could become world champion again if Jorge were to finish the race fourth or lower. It therefore promises to be a particularly exciting weekend for the title fight. Phillip Island is an unusual track for us due to the load disparity between the left and right shoulder of the rear tire, but I am confident in the choice made. We selected the tire with the softest compound on the rear to improve rider safety and guarantee the optimal operating temperature in the morning test sessions.”

Hirohide Hamashima – Assistant Development Manager Bridgestone Motorsport: “Despite being a particularly fast circuit, where the average speed exceeds 180km/h, Phillip Island is generally not a demanding track for the front and rear tyres, despite the low temperatures and the fast configuration with only one critical braking point . The last two corners are long and fast and generate a rather high rear tire temperature in the left shoulder, as well as particularly high lateral loads and for this reason we have selected a type of tire with a special construction developed to ensure greater durability. We have seen in previous editions of the grand prix that both low temperatures and rain were determining factors for the outcome of the race and for this reason this year we have selected a softer compound for the rear tyre, the same one used on the occasion of the German Grand Prix.”

Tire compounds available:
Front: soft, medium
Posterior (asymmetrical): medium, hard