Photo: MotoGP.com
Even though there were not explicit allegations as of the exact reason of Jorge Lorenzo's poor performance during the 4 race of the MotoGP season which took place on May 19 at Le Mans, France, Bridgestone was quick to shed light on the matter.
While it was obvious that Lorenzo was not riding with the best possible setup for his bike at Le Mans, questions appeared. Lorenzo himself stated that there might have been some troubles with the racing tire. While the morning warm-up laps went alright, the team decided to test the race tire, and it proved to perform bad, but they assumed it was because the setup difference.
Even more, Lorenzo mentioned that Rossi's team found a faulty tire and were allowed to change it, according to regulations. At the same time, the Spaniard pointed out that he had no issues in the 2012 race, which went on under similar conditions.
Bridgestone and Yamaha officials inspected the tire and showed that the tire wear was normal, with no apparent signs of being faulty.
Shinji Aoki, manager of Tire Development Department for Bridgestone official declared: “As is always the case in these situations, his engineer thoroughly examined Jorge’s race tires which were found to be in good working condition. In addition, I examined the tire myself and personally discussed the matter with the Yamaha engineers and we all agreed that Jorge’s lack of rear grip was not attributable to his tire. [...] In these low grip situations, machine set up is critical as the smallest setting change can have a big effect on performance.”
Should we pray for rain in two weeks at Mugello, Italy, to see if this happens once more? We believe not.
Even more, Lorenzo mentioned that Rossi's team found a faulty tire and were allowed to change it, according to regulations. At the same time, the Spaniard pointed out that he had no issues in the 2012 race, which went on under similar conditions.
Bridgestone and Yamaha officials inspected the tire and showed that the tire wear was normal, with no apparent signs of being faulty.
Shinji Aoki, manager of Tire Development Department for Bridgestone official declared: “As is always the case in these situations, his engineer thoroughly examined Jorge’s race tires which were found to be in good working condition. In addition, I examined the tire myself and personally discussed the matter with the Yamaha engineers and we all agreed that Jorge’s lack of rear grip was not attributable to his tire. [...] In these low grip situations, machine set up is critical as the smallest setting change can have a big effect on performance.”
Should we pray for rain in two weeks at Mugello, Italy, to see if this happens once more? We believe not.
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