Stoner takes first Bridgestone 'dry' win at Donington Park

Round 8: Great Britain - Race
Donington Park - Sunday 22 June 2008

Casey Stoner took a dominant victory aboard his Bridgestone-shod Ducati in this afternoon's British Grand Prix, leading home Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi by almost six seconds to secure the second Bridgestone 1-2 of the season. It is the fifth Bridgestone-shod victory in eight races after Stoner's season-opening win in Qatar and Rossi's trio of wins in Shanghai, Le Mans and Mugello.

Stoner has been in scintillating form around Donington Park all weekend, whether in the dry or wet conditions, and followed up his second pole position of the season with his second victory of the year to jump to third place in the championship. Stoner's win is his second consecutive Donington win, but marks the first time that a Bridgestone-shod rider has ever taken victory in the dry at the British track, after 2007's success in wet conditions.

Rossi's second place extends his championship lead over Dani Pedrosa to eleven points, as the Spaniard completed this afternoon's podium in third position. Three additional Bridgestone riders took top ten finishes today with Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen in eighth, San Carlo Honda Gresini's Shinya Nakano in ninth and Kawasaki's Anthony West scoring his best result of the season in tenth place.

After a rain-hit qualifying session, in which Stoner, Rossi and Vermeulen took an all-Bridgestone front row, race day remained dry, but windy, and enabled Bridgestone to introduce a new rear tyre compound to combat the demands of the Donington track. Britain has traditionally been a difficult circuit for Bridgestone. The previous best result in dry conditions was eighth place in 2004 and 2006, set on both occasions by John Hopkins on a Suzuki. The championship moves to Assen for the Dutch TT next week, another circuit where Bridgestone has yet to taste victory.

Hiroshi Yasukawa - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport
"That was a highly enjoyable race and congratulations must go first and foremost to Casey and the Ducati Corse team for their second win of the season. This victory was certainly very well deserved after a competitive showing all weekend and it is great to see them back to winning ways. Valentino and Fiat Yamaha also had a strong race and second place today helps enhance their championship lead. It is always a pleasure to see 1-2 results on our tyres, but this result is particularly special considering the difficulties we have faced here in the past in the dry conditions. Finally, I'd like to express my thanks to all our teams for their continued efforts and support."

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport - Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
"I am extremely pleased with this afternoon's result. Donington in the dry has always been a tough challenge for us, so the tyre performance and consistency in today's long 30-lap race was very satisfying. Casey has been exceptional this weekend and thoroughly deserves his second win of the season. It is great to see him and Ducati back on top form. Valentino also rode a good race and set some consistent times on his way to second position. We introduced a new rear compound this weekend, designed specifically to combat the demands of this type of track, and most riders opted to run this compound in the race. The results of Casey and Valentino show that our development is heading in a good direction."

Casey Stoner - Ducati Corse - Race Winner
"This weekend, we have been fast right from the first practice session, and we have been competitive in both dry and wet conditions. It is a great feeling to be back on the top step of the podium. I have to thank the mechanics because they have been working hard to solve the problems we have been having, and I hope this is something that will be equally beneficial for the future races. Thanks also to Bridgestone, we were able to set fast and consistent lap times all weekend, and also be very strong with the wet tyres."