“They're a smart company. There will be no advantage or disadvantage. It's not going to be a tire that any of us have been using. I'm sure the data that we've used from the tires we've been developing will go into it, but any of the tires we're using now, with the amount of compounds they're suggesting, would be impossible - there would be crashes left, right and centre,” said Stoner.
He also pointed out that fitting the new tires and changing the bike's setup to accommodate the new tires will only depend on the team. The 2007 MotoGP champion insisted that he had some problems of his own with the Bridgestone tires this season and that he had to change his bike's setup in order to fix those problems.
“I was destroying my front tyre at the Sachsenring. Completely destroying it. After five laps I couldn't do anything with it. But you just have to change the bike. You can't go 'I want this direction and the tire's crap'. You have to work through things. At Phillip Island the bike was bucking and moving everywhere, and we tried everything to fix it. Finally in the warm-up we found something that completely smoothed out the bike. So there are always ways of fixing it. Every bike has got two wheels and a lot of different weight options, so you can fix almost any problem,” added Stoner.
Most MotoGP teams will start their preparations for the upcoming season as early as next week, with the first testing session under way at Valencia. All teams will be provided with new-regulation tires for 2009, regardless of their past agreement with either Bridgestone or Michelin.
The Japanese manufacturer admitted that the new tires are not completely developed for the 2009 season but assured all teams that they will receive equal treatment from Bridgestone throughout the winter: “We have a busy winter period ahead of us in order to best prepare ourselves for the first race of the 2009 season. Most importantly, we must ensure that our tyres offer the same performance potential across all teams”.
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