After the 4 week mid-season break, we are glad to say that MotoGP is finally back!
The 10th round of the 2015 MotoGP championship sees the series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the USA – and the championship is still wide open, with Rossi holding a slender lead over his teammate Jorge Lorenzo.
Standing at 4.170 kilometres in length, the recently revised Indianapolis circuit features a ‘stop-and-go’ type layout, with slow corners being separated by short straight sections. This puts a real emphasis on the need for good rear traction and braking stability. Running in a counter-clockwise direction, there are a total of ten left-handers and six right-handers.
The sequence of corners from turn twelve through to fourteen generate very high temperatures in the left shoulder of the tyre, so Bridgestone have allocated asymmetric rear slicks with a harder compound on the left hand shoulder to combat this. Last year the circuit was both modified and resurfaced, making it one of the most severe on the calendar for rear tyres. The new layout knocked around six seconds off lap times last year.
Factory Honda and Yamaha riders will have the option of a medium or hard rear slick, whereas all other riders will have a soft and medium option. Front slick compounds available are the soft, medium and hard compound – the main wet tyre is the soft compound, with the hard compound offered as an alternative. Fans can see which compound a rider is using thanks to the Bridgestone colour coded decals.
Hiroshi Yamada – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Department looked forward to the Indianapolis round:
“The summer break has been a busy period for Bridgestone Motorsport as we were supporting teams at the Suzuka 8 Hours race, where we secured our tenth consecutive win. Now, our focus is back on MotoGP as the second half of the season gets underway and so it’s a pleasure to come to Indianapolis as the whole city gets behind the Grand Prix and there is a great atmosphere every time we visit. We’ve had a very interesting championship so far and I am looking forward to seeing the battle for title supremacy between Valentino and Jorge resume, and to see whether any rider can break Repsol Honda’s run of five straight victories at this event. This Thursday before the Grand Prix weekend we will also be holding our fourth annual Bridgestone Golf Challenge at Brickyard Crossing Golf Course which is right next to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and I look forward to welcoming Bradley, Jack, Maverick and Colin Edwards to the event as well as a host of local and international media.”
Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department talked about the abrasive nature of Indianapolis after resurfacing:
“The recent re-surfacing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway means that there’s only a single type of tarmac on the infield section, so the old issues of having various levels of grip around the circuit are no longer. Although the layout of the circuit was also modified last year, the overall character of the track is one of many low-speed corners which place a strong emphasis on good acceleration. The layout of the circuit puts greater stress on the left shoulder of the tyres, mainly due to the sequence of corners from T12 to T14 which generates very high temperatures. Therefore, to ensure adequate temperature resistance and durability, we supply asymmetric rear slicks with harder rubber on the left shoulder at this circuit. The front slick compounds for Indianapolis are from the harder end of our compound range for maximum durability and braking stability at this ‘stop-and-go’ circuit.”
