One thing that I'm sure of that he'll work hard in Jerez and I hope that everything, i.e, machine, tires, weather and luck will be on his side to make his job at ease to fight at the front.

Hiroshi Yamada, Bridgestone Motorsport's manager of Motorcycle Sport:

"Everybody knows Jerez very well from testing so there is a lot of data at our disposal. Teams will have a good idea of the set-up they require for their bikes, so the first practice will be used to confirm or make slight adjustments before we start the usual process of tyre evaluation for the weekend.

Grid position is important at Jerez because it is so competitive and not so easy to overtake. We are still working hard on our qualifying tyres and will introduce some new rear qualifiers in Jerez this weekend, which we hope will offer riders the extra grip that is needed.

Some riders have also expressed an interest in a front qualifying tyre which we initially started to look at during last season and are continuing to develop. In the past, a front qualifier did not offer a significant advantage over a standard front tyre, but we are continuing into this as part of our ongoing development plans for this season,"



hope they are gonna help those new qualifiers...

And all this behind him:




From MCN

Cool, thanks for all the information
Jerez is a nice track with nice memories, it just feels so right to see Vale winning there, but I`m pretty sure that Lorenzo will be at the front line too. Can`t wait to see the race! Does anybody have a weather forecast for the weekend ???

BTW: Turk_Chick - awesome avatar !

can't wait to see the master's attraction this weekend!!! go vale!!!!

Thanks Jackie for the great article, it sure takes some of my time to read but I really need to see the changes in this weekend race. I really want to see Vale deliver his best to proove how hard he has been working in the pre-season and how hard Yamaha tried too. For sure, there's a lot of good possibilities but I don't want to jump to any good conclusion yet.

It's true, this year is going to be a great year to Motogp fans with a lot of youngsters and their fighting spirit just unbelievable to me. I am hoping to see some improvements this weekend and enjoy the race like the older years...Go vale.

FPs live on Eurosport (for my fellow european compatriots).

Wow, lucky for you guys.....I can't believe it's already thursday.

vremea.com - weather forecast - Starea vremii, prognoza meteo

Question answer

with Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit

How much do tyres influence the results at Jerez?

“Tyres are an important part of the package at Jerez because it is a circuit with a wide range of corner types and there is no dominant straight, so the riders require good cornering performance. This means we need to provide high grip front and rear tyres. We expect track temperatures to be between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius, so we will run soft to medium level of compounds.”

A lot of testing takes place at Jerez, what effect does this have on the performance?

“Everybody knowsJerez very well from testing so there is a lot of data at our disposal. We have seen in previous years that the level of competition at Jerez is very high and it is often just tenths-of-a-second that can make a big difference to the result. The circuit is not always in exactly the same condition as when we tested, and this year there is a full month between the pre-season IRTA test and the race, so track conditions will likely have changed. Teams will have a good idea of the set-up they require for their bikes, so the first practice will be used to confirm or make slight adjustments before we start the usual process of tyre evaluation for the weekend.”


How important is qualifying at Jerez?

“Grid position is important at Jerez because it is so competitive and not so easy to overtake. We are still working hard on our qualifying tyres and will introduce some new rear qualifiers in Jerez this weekend, which we hope will offer riders the extra grip that is needed. Some riders have also expressed an interest in a front qualifying tyre which we initially started to look at during last season and are continuing to develop. In the past, a front qualifier did not offer a significant advantage over a standard front tyre, but we are continuing into this as part of our ongoing development plans for this season.”