Bridgestone to test new tyres next week

The Japanese tyre manufacturer has helped Ducati's Casey Stoner open up a 44-pointadvantage in the riders' championship, but the company is determined to keep pushing hard for the final races of the season.

That is why it spent time during MotoGP's summer break fine-tuning tyres for this weekend's race at Brno and creating new concepts for the rest of the campaign.

Hiroshi Yamada, Bridgestone's MotoGP tyre chief, said: "Initially, we have worked on adjusting our range of compounds to best suit the Brno track both in terms of grip level and degradation over the 22 laps.

"With significant elevation changes and flowing corners, Brno is a track that requires careful attention to the set-up of the bike, so our teams will also have a lot of work during the important practice sessions.

"We have also developed a new range of constructions and compounds which we intend to evaluate in the official post-race test session next week, which will form the basis of our campaign for the rest of the season."

Loris Capirossi's victory for Ducati and Bridgestone at Brno last year points to another strong weekend for the package this time out, but Yamada is refusing to get complacent.

"Loris Capirossi and the Ducati team had a very competitive weekend on our tyres last season and were able to win the race in convincing fashion. Brno is one of just four circuits on the calendar at which a rider on our tyres won last year.

"Seven of the eleven races so far this season have been won using our tyres, the most ever in a single season for Bridgestone, so we definitely hope to keep up momentum, but with competition as closely fought as it is this season, we cannot take anything for granted."