Bridgestone Motorsport is aiming for a return to winning ways as the final leg of the 2006 championship gets underway at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic this weekend. The Brno event kick-starts a string of races where Bridgestone has previous success in its short four-year MotoGP history. The Czech Republic race precedes a trio of intercontinental Grands Prix in Malaysia, Australia and Japan where the Japanese tyre manufacturer has demonstrated its podium and race winning capabilities over the last few years. Brno is also a favoured track for the Bridgestone-shod Ducati Corse team who will be looking to maintain their run of successive top five finishes at the circuit and to improve on Loris Capirossi’s scintillating second place at last year’s event. The city of Brno is part of motorcycle racing legend with the first ever Brno Grand Prix dating back 41 years to 1965 when it was held around a mammoth 13.94km road course. Ultimately deemed too dangerous for technologically-advancing premier-class machines, championship racing at Brno endured a decade-long cessation from 1977 until its revival on a newly-built racing circuit in 1987. At 5.403km, the modern-day Brno track is second only to Malaysia in length and comprises six left and eight right-hand turns. The smooth asphalt offers medium-high levels of grip, a circuit trait that tends to benefit Bridgestone’s range of MotoGP tyres. Bridgestone engineers have put the three-week summer break to good use by developing new compounds especially for the Brno race. Bridgestone is aware of the importance of this weekend’s race, which could set the trend for the remaining six races of this closely-fought 2006 season. Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Motorcycle Racing Manager “One of the highlights of our 2005 season was Loris’s second place at Brno and I have equally high hopes for this weekend’s Czech Republic Grand Prix. The circuit is quite technical with many flowing corners, significant elevation changes and a high average speed over a long lap. That said, it is not one of the toughest circuits on the calendar for tyre durability or grip, but we pay close attention to front cornering (particularly through the downhill turns) as well as traction grip at corner exit. There is no such thing as a break in racing, so we have utilised the time we have had since Laguna Seca to develop our next generation of tyres for the final races of the season. In fact we have created a new family of compounds which we will debut in Brno. These tyres have been produced based on the positive results we collated at our last test session in mid-June and will form the base of our campaign for the rest of the year. I am hoping to build up some momentum over the next four races in Brno, Sepang, Philip Island and Motegi, all tracks where we know Bridgestone can be strong and can challenge for the podium.” Bridgestone’s 2005 Czech Republic GP Race Results Pos. Rider Motorcycle Race Time Gap P2 Loris Capirossi Ducati 43m58.376s +1.837s P8 Carlos Checa Ducati 44m15.870s +19.331s P11 Kenny Roberts Suzuki 44m24.223s +27.684s P12 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 44m24.342s +27.803s P13 John Hopkins Suzuki 44m24.817s +28.278s P15 Alex Hofmann Kawasaki 44m26.307s +29.768s P16 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki 44m38.317s +41.778s