Bridgestone has announced that it will be offering its new asymmetric front slick tyre as part of the allocation for this year’s Grands Prix at Phillip Island in Australia and the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.
Of the many items on the agenda for Bridgestone during the Brno post-race test on Monday, one was to test its new asymmetric front tyre for the first time. As explained by Shinji Aoki, Manager of Bridgestone Motorcycle’s Tyre Development Department, the aim of the test was to evaluate the balance offered between braking stability and edge grip: two key characteristics of a front tyre.
“On Monday, the track conditions were very good in comparison to what we had on Sunday and many riders were able to set better lap times using the same tyre combinations they used for the race,” Aoki explained. “We offered our new asymmetric front slick to all riders to evaluate at Brno and some riders took the opportunity to test these and provide us with feedback.
“Although the Brno circuit is quite balanced in terms of layout and isn’t a circuit where an asymmetric front slick would be offered, we wanted riders to test the braking stability as well as the transition while cornering of this new development.”
Aoki went on to confirm that the new asymmetric front tyre will be available for riders to use across the Australian and Valencian rounds of the season later this year:
“Overall, the reaction to this tyre is that it will work very well at circuits like Phillip Island which have a big difference in the number of right and left corners, so we will be bringing this new front slick to the Phillip Island and Valencia rounds this year as part of our tyre allocation, which we feel will improve safety levels for the riders to an even higher level.”
source: Bridgestone
