Asymmetric front tyre well-received by MotoGP riders: Bridgestone

The Sachsenring round of MotoGP saw riders using asymmetric front tyre for the race weekend. This tyre was well-received by the riders with likes of Bradley Smith referring to the tyre as "really good”.

Shining Aoki, Motorsport Development Manager of Bridgestone, offered his assessment of the tyre and race weekend and said, "Recently, we have had the riders asking Bridgestone to develop an asymmetric front slick for Sachsenring. It was a nice technical challenge to deliver what they wanted. This development was not easy as no team uses Sachsenring for private testing, so it involved a lot of simulation work based on our existing data for the circuit and we did not have a chance to test this tyre at this circuit before offering it to the riders. However, I was confident the asymmetric front slick we developed would be well-received and already in the first free practice session at the German Grand Prix some riders were eager to try it.”

The asymmetric front slick tyre offered to the riders had medium compound rubber for the center and the left section of the tyre while the right shoulder of the tyre was made of a softer compound rubber which helped in providing good warm-up performance and heat retention throughout the front tyre.

He further added, "It not only increased rider safety but also worked well when track temperatures increased, with nineteen of the twenty-five riders selecting the asymmetric front slick for the race. We had a lot of good feedback for this specification of tyre, so our decision to bring this tyre to Sachsenring was definitely justified.”

Sachsenring was a challenging race for the teams because of unstable weather conditions. Air temperature on Friday was pleasantly cool but Sunday was uncomfortably hot. Bridgestone provided an extra tyre option to the teams which was well-received by the riders. Multiple tyre options helped riders to be prepared for the extreme weather conditions.