MotoGP: The Bridgestone debriefing of the Catalunya GP

The Catalunya Grand Prix, held last Sunday at Montmelò, was one of the most spectacular ever. In fact, in the race there were four of them battling for the victory, with only Jorge Lorenzo unable to keep the pace set by the two Hondas of Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez and team-mate Valentino Rossi. The race promised on paper to be one of the most difficult for the Bridgestone tyres, but the temperature on Sunday, which was lower due to the clouds, helped the Japanese manufacturer. Here's what he said about it Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer, Bridgestone Motorsport Tire Development Department.

Friday and Saturday were extremely hot, then on Sunday the temperature dropped. Did this influence the choice of tires?

“In terms of tire choice, I would say that this didn't make a big difference. Many riders told us that they preferred the soft and medium rear compounds anyway, because there wasn't as much grip. In terms of tire performance, the colder temperatures probably helped ensure there wasn't too much overheating. This allowed the drivers to extract maximum performance from their slick tires and reduce the race time compared to last year."

Many drivers have complained about the level of grip offered by the Circuit de Catalunya. Considering the lack of grip, are you satisfied with the performance of the tires?

“Yes, I'm happy with how our tires worked and we believe our allocation had the best balance of grip versus durability. Having broadened the choice of front tire allowed the riders to better deal with unpredictable situations, with the understanding that they could not use a compound that was too soft, which would have caused problems. I heard that there would be the possibility of resurfacing the circuit and it would be the best option to have more grip. Furthermore, some corners could be modified and this would make the track safer and more predictable for the drivers."

You have brought a new tire for testing, what advantages does it offer?

“The new tire we supplied is a front slick that uses a newly created compound that we developed following rider requests. This new compound is halfway between our current medium and hard compounds in terms of hardness and is more suitable for circuits that are very harsh on tires with very hard braking. We expected this tire to provide the same high level of braking stability as the hard compound, but with cornering performance closer to that of our medium compound. Many riders have tried it in the Post-GP tests, giving us positive feedback. Now we will cross-reference their feedback with our data and from there we will decide when to introduce it.”