Bridgestone wet tyre compounds
available: Front: Hard. Rear: Hard
After a weekend of scorching weather,
Malaysia
delivered a truly tropical rainstorm just before the scheduled start of the
MotoGP race, causing it to be delayed. As the downpour ceased, every rider
started on Bridgestone’s wet tyres. The track remained wet for the race
distance, making it the only grand prix this season to be run in its entirety in
wet conditions.
Casey Stoner delivered a dominating
performance from fourth on the grid to take the lead on the first lap and never
looked back. A masterful display saw the Ducati Team rider take his fourth win
of the season and his 20th on Bridgestone tyres.
Valentino Rossi and Fiat Yamaha
teammate Jorge Lorenzo also set a very fast pace as they cut through the field making
good use of their wet tyres in the slippery conditions. After closing on Dani
Pedrosa in the latter stages of the race, Rossi finished on the final step of
the podium to claim the 2009 World Championship title.
Hiroshi
Yasukawa, Director, Bridgestone Corporation, said:
“I’d like to congratulate Casey for
his dominant win here today in Sepang in very demanding conditions, and I would
also like to congratulate Valentino Rossi and the Fiat Yamaha Team as their third
position finish here secures him his ninth World Championship and his second
consecutive World title on Bridgestone tyres. The championship has been much
closer this year than in past seasons, and I am very happy with the level of
fairness of support we have been able to provide to all teams and riders as the
Official Tyre Supplier. As we continue this support I am sure we will see many
more exciting races, both in Valencia
to end this season and throughout the next two years of our appointment as
single tyre supplier.”
Tohru Ubukata, Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre
Development Department, said:
“It is the first race of the season
that has been run in wet conditions for the full distance, but even with the
rain the temperature was still hot which is why we chose to bring the hard
compound wet tyre here. I can say that these are special conditions because
normally when we see rain the temperature is low. After the heavy rain the
track started very wet, and did not dry so quickly despite the heat but the wet
tyres showed good durability. Right from the start of the race Casey was very
fast and I was surprised with his pace considering the conditions.”
Casey
Stoner, Ducati Team Race Winner said:
“We’ve had no testing here in the
wet as even with the usual afternoon thunderstorms it dries out so quickly
normally. The early laps were very tentative and I didn’t get a good start, but
when I reached the lead I started to test the conditions. I didn’t expect to
pull the gap I did, but then I just decided to keep going for at least half
race distance. By then the tyres had started moving around a little, but actually
the tyres were in a lot better condition than I expected. We couldn’t have
asked for a better comeback with these two wins.”
Valentino
Rossi, Fiat Yamaha Team 2009 World Champion said:
“This weekend I was so fast in the
dry but right before the race it started to rain and we had to go on track with
no wet setting. This is a great achievement for me, my ninth championship and seventh
in MotoGP. I have to thank all the guys, Yamaha, the Fiat Yamaha team, Peter [Rossi’s
Bridgestone engineer] and all my friends and everyone who helped me to reach
this achievement. We are the top and now we relax – the ninth championship is
great!”
"Right from the start of the race Casey was very
fast and I was surprised with his pace considering the conditions"