BRIDGESTONE MOTOGP BRIEFING - ROUND 5: FRANCE
Tuesday 13 May 2008

A frenetic run of six European MotoGP events in two months gets underway at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans, Francethis weekend, round five of this year’s 18-race championship.

The French Grand Prix has been a fixture on the world championship calendar since 1951 but it has changed venuerepeatedly. Albi hosted the debut event while Rouen, Reims, Clermont-Ferrand, Paul Ricard, Nogaro, Magny-Coursand Le Mans have all held French GP status over the years. With 19 races held to date, Le Mans remains the mostvisited for the French GP, but the circuit also played host to 1991’s ‘Vitesse du Mans’ round.

Bridgestone had a hugely successful French GP in 2007 in torrential wet conditions, scoring its first ever wet weatherwin, courtesy of an impressive Chris Vermeulen and his Suzuki team. Marco Melandri and Casey Stoner completedan all-Bridgestone podium in second and third places for Honda Gresini and Ducati Corse respectively. LorisCapirossi also claimed a podium result for Ducati at Le Mans back in 2006 finishing less than two seconds from therace winner, so Bridgestone will be hoping for another strong performance after its Chinese successes a fortnight ago.

The Bugatti circuit has been slightly modified for this year’s event with a larger run-off area at turn eight increasing theoverall length of the circuit by five metres to 4.185km.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Sport Unit
“Last year’s result at Le Mans was a breakthrough performance for Bridgestone because it was the first time one ofour riders had taken victory in the wet. It was also our second podium clean sweep of the season after Turkey andone of our standout performances of the year. The competition has been very close in the first four races of the yearso far, so I think we can expect another close battle at Le Mans. It is the home race for our rivals, who will undoubtedlybe strong again this weekend. Because last year's race was wet, wehave no dry weather race data from 2007, butwe did show some encouraging performances in the dry practice sessions, so I hope we can have another successfulevent after the performance in China.”

Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Race Tyre Development
“After the encouraging performance in China, we head to these European venues with renewed determination. LeMans is composed mainly of slow-speed corners and places an emphasis on heavy braking, good change ofdirection and acceleration. The key focal areas for tyre performance are therefore on braking stability and traction. Itis not one of the more technically demanding circuits for tyres, but the competition is so close, we cannot takeanything for granted. In order to best prepare ourselves we will bring new compound and new construction rear racespecification tyres for all teams, which have been developed from the post-race test in Estoril and adjusted to suit thecharacter of the Le Mans circuit. I am hopeful that both new compound and new construction will help to improve thegrip level in the lower temperature conditions that we expect this weekend.

2007 Flashback
Last year’s French Grand Prix weekend started off strongly for Bridgestone in dry conditions with Honda Gresini’sMarco Melandri, winner of the 2006 event, quickest of all in Friday free practice. Saturday morning practice wastopped by John Hopkins with Toni Elias and Casey Stoner making it a Bridgestone 1-2-3 in the dry. Just 0.15sseparated the top five. Three Bridgestone riders claimed top six grid positions with Stoner on the front row in second,a mere 0.094s from pole. Sunday’s race was hit by rain and riders were forced to pit for wet set-up bikes after somedifficult laps on slicks. As the rain worsened, Chris Vermeulen took charge and dominated en route to his maidenMotoGP win, leading a Bridgestone podium clean sweep with Melandri second and Stoner third.

Bridgestone MotoGP Race Information Sheet
Bridgestone’s latest MotoGP race information sheet is now available for download from the Bridgestone Motorsportmedia website, containing detailed technical insight into the Le Mans circuit from Tohru Ubukata and Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen, Q+A with French rider Sylvain Guintoli, and fully updated facts and stats from the season so far.The race information sheets are located within the “Downloads” section of the site.