Bridgestone blame weather for tyre wear
Added on Monday, July 20th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Bridgestone blame weather for tyre wear
Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso revealed that an electrical problem had forced him out of yesterday’s German Grand Prix but the spotlight was again cast on Bridgestone as his RC212V appeared to suffer from severe tyre damage.
The Honda rider suffered a notable drop in pace after around two third of the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring with television close-ups revealing severe degradation of Dovizioso’s front tyre, dropping him from fifth to eighth before the Italian eventually pulled out with five laps remaining.
The former Scot Honda rider revealed that it was an electronics problem that ultimately forced him out of the race but did note a drop in performance from the front end.
“I made a quick start from the fourth row and got past six riders on the first lap – then I was able to get past Lorenzo for fourth on the third lap,” he claimed. “On that lap I did a 1m 22.7s but then, during the fourth lap, the front folded at turn eight and I ran wide.
“Within a few laps after this the performance from the front had dropped dramatically. It meant I couldn’t lean the bike or brake as normal so it was very difficult to control the bike.”
Casey Stoner also made ruing glances to his tyres after finishing in fourth position although there appeared to be little wrong with his tyres from television pictures.
But whilst Bridgestone head of race development Tohru Ubukata conceded that some riders had experienced abnormal rates or wear, he suggested that a change in track temperature was the cause of the problems.
“I am pleased with the compound choices we brought this weekend because our slick tyres showed good durability and reasonably faster lap times,” he said. ”The rain that fell between warm-up and the race changed the condition of the track, and this may be why a small number of riders suffered a faster wear rate of their front tyre during the race.”
