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the 27 August 2008

Racing Milestone
Bridgestone
marks 200th GP

Formula One TM
Massa wins inaugural
Valencia street race
plus
MotoGP GP2 SERIES Click here to
Record result for Bridgestone at Brno
➜

Title set for Spa showdown

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 Inside News

Felipe Massa gets

to grips with the
new Valencia circuit

Massa secures dominant win

Felipe Massa wins Bridgestone’s 200th Grand Prix as
F1 takes to Valencia’s street circuit for the first time
Felipe Massa piloted his Ferrari to and Ferrari for winning the 200th temperatures reached 46 degrees.
2 a comfortable win over McLaren’s Grand Prix in which Bridgestone After the fresh challenge of F1’s
Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica have participated since 1997. newest street circuit, the
of BMW Sauber in the first F1 race “There were many results championship returns to more
to be run on the streets of Valencia. worthy of a mention today. Both familiar ground on September 7
Massa’s victory, in what was Toyotas scored points and both with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
Bridgestone’s 200th Grand Prix, Toro Rosso cars finished in the top “Spa is a fast circuit that also
leaves him just six points shy of ten, so well done to those teams. sees high levels of downforce
championship leader Hamilton with We now start the count towards used,” explained Hamashima.
six races left. our next hundred races.” “That’s an unusual combination
Following the European Grand The soft and super soft that makes for high loads over the
Prix, Director of Bridgestone compound Bridgestone Potenzas entirety of a lap. Weather can also
Motorsport Tyre Development again proved tough enough to often be a factor here.”
Hirohide Hamashima said: “We allow one stop strategies on the
must congratulate Felipe Massa newly laid surface, even as track F1 tyre pressure - page 4 ➜

Fuel issue fails to dent Pantano’s title bid

iSport’s Bruno Senna failed to close the gap on GP2
Petrov and di Grassi
Series championship leader Giorgio Pantano in Valencia, secured a Campos
after both drivers ran out of fuel in the closing stages of double win in Valencia
race one. Vitaly Petrov of Campos eventually won the 34-
lap outing by less than a second over Pastor Maldonado.
With Senna also retiring in race two, Pantano went on
to collect four points and stretch his championship lead
to 13 over the iSport driver.
With just two rounds left of the GP2 Series, Campos
man Lucas di Grassi kept his own title hopes alive with
victory in race two, and now trails Pantano by 20 points
as the teams head for Spa on September 6.
Italian Pantano could travel to his home race at Monza
on September 13 having already secured Racing
Engineering’s first drivers title if he outscores Senna by
more than six points at Spa.

www.bridgestonemotorsport.com
Record results for Bridgestone at Brno
Bridgestone-shod machines utterly dominated the latest
round of the MotoGP championship, filling 10 of the first
11 grid places, before taking a clean sweep of the first
eight positions on race day. Valentino Rossi extended his
championship lead to 50 points over Ducati’s Casey Stoner
with a win at Brno after Stoner crashed out on lap seven.
Behind Rossi, Loris Capirossi piloted his Suzuki to third,
and Alice Team’s Toni Elias finished second. “I am very
happy with my performance,” said Elias after the race.
“Since Germany we have improved a lot thanks to the
new technical material received by Ducati. Today
everything went in the right direction and I am sure we can
maintain the same level for the rest of the season.”
Following the Czech race, teams travel to San Marino for
the series’ second outing on Misano’s reconfigured circuit.
Last year’s event saw the Bridgestone-shod bikes secure
a dominant 1-2-3, with Stoner leading home the Suzukis of
Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins.
“The character of the asphalt at Misano is quite slippery
and we suffered from quite bad graining over longer runs
last year,” explained Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Race Tyre
Development Manager, Tohru Ubukata. “We will bring
updated race specification tyres to Misano with compound
adjustments made to counter the demands of the track.”
Toni Elias took his Bridgestone-
MotoGP Indianapolis preview – page 5 ➜ shod Ducati to second at Brno
3

IN BRIEF
Final F1 allocations announced Tsugio Matsuda stretched his
The soft and super soft Bridgestone lead in the Formula Nippon
Potenza tyres will be used for Formula 1’s Championship to 29 points
debut at the new Singapore street circuit after round six of the series
on September 28th. in Motegi. Matsuda secured
“After eleven races this season we can two second place finishes as
now confirm our tyre allocations for the championship rival Loic Duval
final four races of the year”, explained won race one and Seiji Ara
Hirohide Hamashima, Director of of the Petronas TOM’S team
Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development. recorded his maiden Formula
“This will be the first time for F1 in Nippon win in race two. Next
Singapore and we will bring the soft and stop for the championship is
super soft compounds for this interesting Fuji on August 31.
new street course. High grip will be
required at this track, which is the primary
reason for our choice.”
However for rounds 16 and 17,
Bridgestone will capitalise on data
gathered at last year’s races, and stay
with the 2007 compound choices of soft
and medium for Japan, while China
demands medium and hard compounds. Bridgestone riders James
Conversely, the sweltering Stewart and Ryan Villopoto
temperatures expected in Sao Paulo this have secured both AMA
year have prompted a move away from Motorcross Championships.
the super soft compound used last Stewart’s National title is
season, so the soft and medium Potenza the sixth major series win of
Bridgestone’s soft and super- his career, all of which have
tyres will come into focus for the season soft tyres will be used at the
finale in Brazil. first Singapore Grand Prix come on Bridgestone tyres.
Villopoto’s AMA Lites crown is
his third in a row.

www.bridgestone.eu
 Inside Analysis
Pressure point
Bridgestone’s Formula
One tyre research,
development and
production processes
lead the market. But the
success of decades of
experience and cutting
edge technologies can
boil down to one simple
thing. Air.
The current Bridgestone Potenza F1
tyres used in Formula One are the
result of nearly 80 years of
manufacturing expertise, and a
startling amount of chemical
engineering. But come race day, like
4 any tyre, their performance hinges on
the gas inside them being at the
correct pressure.
The rubber compounds used to
make Bridgestone racing tyres are
some of the most complex in
production. The specific compound of
a Potenza F1 tyre is made up of
polymers, mixed with reinforcing
fillers, processing oil and sulphur. This
mixture is then vulcanised at high
temperature as the tyre is assembled.
Polymers
Polymers are long, chain-like
molecules which are able to convert
deformation and movement of the
tyre surface into heat, and so provide
the grip of a tyre. The polymers that
www.bridgestonemotorsport.com
Tyre warmers play a part in
preparing the Potenzas
for on-track action
go into making a Potenza F1 tyre are
produced synthetically by refining
petroleum oils. Using these synthetic
polymers allows minute adjustments
to the tyre compound, producing
different grip and wear characteristics
for different conditions.
These polymers are then combined
with a fine powder called carbon black,
which reinforces and strengthens the
compound.
Processing oil
To balance the carbon black – and to
make the compound easier to mix and
manipulate – light-coloured processing
oils are added to the mixture. These
‘lightweight’ oils are blended from
selected crudes, and are the key to
producing a Potenza F1 tyre, which
requires a lot of manipulation to create
the thin, wide tread surface.
Sulphur
The final stage of production is the
vulcanisation. Before the compound is
formed into strips, the heated rubber
is mixed with sulphur. When the
sheets of rubber are finally moulded
and vulcanised into the ‘tyre’ shape,
the sulphur creates bridges between
the polymers at a molecular level. The
result is a rubber that is much more
elastic, durable and heat resistant.
Air pressure
For all this technology and expertise,
though, a Potenza F1 tyre will only
perform to its optimum when the gas
inside is at the correct pressure. Too
low, and the flex of the tyre, and its
contact patch with the road, will
increase, resulting in faster wear and
quicker degradation. Too high, and the
contact patch will be less than its
optimum – again producing uneven
wear and faster degradation.
To minimise an increase in tyre
pressure as temperatures rise on the
track, the gas that is used to fill
Potenza F1s has every trace of
moisture removed from it.
Conversely, to be sure that leaking
air does not lead to tyre pressures
falling, the tyres are fitted to the rims
by Bridgestone’s highly trained tyre
technicians. Any damage to the rims
at this point could result in a leak.
Ensuring that all of these factors
blend perfectly is what it takes to
produce the best motorsport tyre
possible, and it is what has kept
Bridgestone at the forefront of F1 for
over a decade.
When experience pays
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a new venue for MotoGP, but valuable
testing and a winning history at the US circuit puts Bridgestone in good stead
When MotoGP takes to the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway road
course on September 12-14, it will be
the first time that motorcycle racing
has been held at the spiritual home of
US motorsport since 1909.
The oval circuit’s infield road course,
which from 2000 to 2007 hosted
Formula One’s US Grand Prix, has
been modified for MotoGP bikes.
By missing the banked Turn One, it
now has a total of 16 turns, and like
the F1 track, shares its long home
straight with the famous Indianapolis
oval. However, unlike F1, the MotoGP
bikes will run in the same anti-
clockwise direction as the IndyCar
Series racers.
Although most of the MotoGP grid
will get their first taste of the 4.216
kilometre circuit during free practice
on the race weekend, each team did
send a test rider there in early July to
gather initial data. One of the riders
was American Ben Spies, who will be
racing a Bridgestone-shod Suzuki at
Indianapolis come September.
“It feels good out there,” he said
after his first experience of the
revised Indy MotoGP circuit. “I think
there are a couple little things they
can improve, but I also think the
people at the track are definitely going
to go for that and make it happen for
the race and fix what’s needed to be
fixed to make it better.”
Another man who has already had
an outing at Indianapolis on
Bridgestone tyres is Ducati test rider,
Niccolo Canepa. Speaking after his
first of three days at the circuit,
Canepa was already confident that
2008 CHAMPIONSHIP TABLES
Formula One
Driver (Team) Pts
1 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 70
2 Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 64
3 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 57
4 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 55
5 Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 43
6 Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 41
September 7 Spa, Belgium
September 14 Monza, Italy
Indianapolis is the second US race
on the 2008 calendar after July’s trip
to Laguna Seca where Bridgestone-
shod riders secured a 1-2-3
the Bridgestone tyres will deliver many, many laps this morning, but in
when motorcycle racing returns to the evening the grip was good, we 5
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. found a good setup and good tyres
“It is a beautiful track,” he said. with which to do a good lap time.”
“Just this morning, I got to learn the With four of the six riders at the
layout because it’s new for everybody test running on Bridgestone tyres,
and it was also a little bit dirty, so we July’s brief try-out was hugely
have to clean up the circuit. We did valuable, and builds on a wealth of
four-wheeled racing experience that
Fast FACTS the manufacturer has on both the oval
Track Length 4.216km (2.619 miles) and road circuits. Since 1996
Laps 28 Bridgestone and its American sister
Race distance 118.048km (73.351 miles) brand, Firestone, have won seven F1
Top speed 321km/h (200mph)
and 12 IndyCar races at Indianapolis.
“Bridgestone has an affinity with
Indianapolis from our four-wheeled
involvement there, but the MotoGP
track will be new to us,” explains
Bridgestone’s Motorcycle Race Tyre
Development Manager, Tohru
Ubukata. “On paper it looks like an
exciting new venue for MotoGP.”
MotoGP * Bridgestone riders in red GP2 Series IndyCar Series
Rider (Team) Pts Driver (Team) Pts Driver (Team) Pts
1 Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) 237 1 Giorgio Pantano (Racing Eng.) 71 1 Scott Dixon (Ganassi) 558
2 Casey Stoner (Ducati Corse) 187 2 Bruno Senna (iSport) 58 2 Helio Castroneves (Penske) 480
3 Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 172 3 Lucas di Grassi (Barwa Campos) 51 3 Dan Wheldon (Ganassi) 420
4 Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha) 120 4 Romain Grosjean (ART Grand Prix) 42 4 Tony Kanaan (Andretti-Green) 411
5 Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot) 110 5 Sébastien Buemi (Arden) 37 5 Ryan Briscoe (Penske) 350
6 Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha) 102 6 Pastor Maldonado (Piquet Sports) 35 6 Danica Patrick (Andretti-Green) 315
August 31 Misano, San Marino September 6-7 Spa, Belgium August 31 Detroit, USA
September 14 Indianapolis, USA September 13-14 Monza, Italy September 7 Chicago, USA
www.bridgestone.eu