New Bridgestone tire to debut in Valencia MotoGP title decider

ERJ staff report (TP)

Valencia, Spain − Bridgestone's much anticipated new hard-specification rear slick tire will make its debut in this weekend's Valencia MotoGP title decider, reported Crash.Net.

The brand new hard compound received extremely positive feedback from riders when tested at Misano (Italy) this year.

In a season that has rarely seen the former hard compound chosen, the new design could add a further variable to Sunday's crucial race.

“We will debut our new specification hard compound rear slick at Valencia after it was praised by riders in the Misano test, so I am looking forward to seeing it put to good use this weekend,” confirmed Shinji Aoki, manager of Bridgestone's Motorsport Tyre Development Department.

Bridgestone Motorsport manager Hiroshi Yamada added: “I am pleased that after such an exciting MotoGP season, the championship will be decided at the last race at Valencia this weekend.

“There have been many highlights throughout this year but ultimately, Marc and Jorge have proven to be the most consistent performers and I expect a large and passionate Spanish crowd will be present to cheer them on as they vie for the championship title.”

Once the grand prix is over attention will quickly turn to 2014 preparations in the post-race test.

“One of the important things for us is we need to evaluate the performance of the new 'open' class machines like the Honda Production Racer and the Forward Racing Yamaha M1,” said Yamada. “The data we acquire at the Valencia test gives us a good base to work with for our tire development programme over the winter.”

Medium and Hard (asymmetric) rear slicks will be available for the factory MotoGP riders, with the privateer CRTs choosing from the Soft and Medium specification. Front options will be Extra-soft and Soft.

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