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Bridgestone Addresses Assen Tire Problems

Rossi, Spies give Bridgestone a pass on tire problems, Stoner not so understanding.HOHENSTEIN, ERNSTTHAL, GERMANY, JULY 6 – What happened to the rear Bridgestone tires of Valentino Rossi and Ben Spies remains a mystery, even to Bridgestone.

Shinji Aoki, Bridgestone's manager of motorsport tire development, briefed the media following the end of day rider briefings. Most of the riders believed Bridgestone was being sincere, but Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner continued his scathing comments.

The entire Repsol Honda team has been critical of Bridgestone every since they introduced a new, softer construction front tire during testing. The tire was put into service at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Stoner finished third behind Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Stoner won on the tire last weekend in Assen.

Asked what he’d been told about his Assen tire, Yamaha’s Spies said, “I was waiting for that one.

“Really, nothing useful, honestly. I mean, plain and simple.� He said the team had looked at the data on his bike and that of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso and both had similar set-ups. “His percentage of spin was more than me in the race. Those are the only facts we have and why mine was the one that chunked and his not, I don’t know.�

Spies was willing to concede that Bridgestone hadn’t had enough time to properly analyze the tires, which were immediately air freighted back to Japan.

“The real answers, I mean, it’s a hard one to find out in one week for anybody and I know they’re doing their best to figure out what’s going on and to fix it for the future,� he said. “But in that short a time I don’t think they can learn 100% of what exactly happened.�

The problem was caused by overheating; what caused the overheating remains a point of contention, Bridgestone's Aoki said. Aoki speculated it could have been a combination of factors; the increase to 1000ccs, the increased track temperature-it was 18C last year and 40 this year-and the banking of the track. That, and the various riding styles, electronics and suspension set-ups contributed to the problems.

Aoki said they’d extensively tested the tires in Japan, both before and after the race, on their rolling drum, one of the biggest tire drums in the world.

“So finally we said, OK, this spec, not this lot or batch, this spec not enough performance against this year’s Assen,� he said. But, he added, from the data supplied by the teams, which can measure tire temperatures throughout the race, “only a few riders saw high temperatures compared to other riders.�

Rossi had the worst tire degradation of all. His was so bad that he had to pit to change tires, after his rear had lost much of the rubber off the right shoulder.

“The tire doesn’t have any problem about, so from Bridgestone’s side,� he said. “Create a lot of too much temperature from the inside and for this reason broken the rubber. But maybe it’s something about the setting compared to the other guys. And we don’t know exactly why.�

In his meeting with the media, Stoner, who didn’t have a tire problem in Assen said, “Their tires are getting worse, the lap times year by year are getting worse.� He added, “They will never admit that anything’s wrong with their tires. This is the biggest problem.�

Told these comments, Aoki laughed and said, “I don’t think so, because as you know the lap time is not getting worse.� He added that the motorcycles were getting better and the lap times improved. “Especially this year, every circuit is faster than last year.�

As to why Stoner would say that Bridgestone wouldn’t admit its tires were faulty, Aoki said, “I don’t know why he said something like that.� Aoki pointed out that everyone gets the same level of support, from the CRT teams to the factories. “At this moment sounds like Casey is not so happy.�




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