Aragon Grand Prix, Motorland: Bridgestone Preview

Round fourteen of the 2013 MotoGP™ season takes place at Motorland Aragon; a venue where changeable weather conditions and the varied nature of the circuit creates a challenging scenario for tyre development.

At approximately five kilometres in length, Aragon is a technical circuit with a back straight almost one kilometre long among a mixture of long sweeping corners and slower, tighter curves. The varied nature of the circuit and its susceptibility to changeable weather requires a special approach to front tyre selection. The two front slick compounds, the soft and hard compounds are offered to ensure a broad operating range to deal with whatever weather and track condition occur this weekend.

Last year Bridgestone supplied asymmetric rear slicks for the first time at Aragon and following a successful debut, rear slicks with harder rubber on the left shoulder will once again be supplied this weekend. The CRT entries will have access to the soft and medium option rear slicks, while the more powerful works bikes will be able to select from the medium and hard rear slicks. Owing to the smooth tarmac and possibility for cold weather, the main wet tyre for Aragon is the soft compound option

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft & Hard. Rear: Soft, Medium & Hard (Asymmetric)
Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main) & Hard (Alternative)

Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department
“The Aragon circuit is a state-of-the-art facility located in stunning surroundings which gives it a unique feel among the world championship venues. This technical circuit is quite demanding of the riders, bike and tyres with fast corners and heavy acceleration and braking zones. Jorge has shown great fighting spirit to win the last two races and he will once again have to give his all to beat the Honda riders this weekend, as Aragon is a circuit that Yamaha has yet to enjoy victory at since its introduction to the calendar in 2010. Aragon is the last round before we embark on a busy period of three back-to-back overseas races and undoubtedly the three Spanish riders currently leading the championship will give everything they can to secure a home victory this weekend to help them in their bid to become this year’s MotoGP champion.”

Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“Aragon is a nice circuit and has a mixed layout that matches fast, flowing sections with some slower corners and chicanes. Compared to other tracks on the calendar, the tarmac here is relatively smooth and slippery so the tyres need to provide good grip, while the long, fast corners and downhill braking zones also require high levels of stability, so tyre development for this circuit is quite challenging.

The weather at Aragon can be quite temperamental and warm or cool conditions are possible, so our front tyre allocation will include the soft and hard compound options to ensure the widest operating temperature range. The soft compound front will give riders maximum edge grip and warm-up performance in cool conditions, while the hard option will provide better cornering and braking stability. We brought asymmetric slicks to Aragon for the first time last year and as these worked well we will once again bring this specification of tyre in the soft, medium and hard compounds.”

Source: Bridgestone Motorsport