Bridgestone aims for good result at Montreal

Bridgestone Motorsport heads to Montreal this week with its sights firmly set on some good results at the forthcoming Canadian Grand Prix, round nine of the FIA Formula One World Championship. As part of the preparations for the double header of races coming up in Montreal and Indianapolis, Bridgestone’s teams have been testing at the Italian circuit of Monza and the French circuit of Paul Ricard.

Hisao Suganuma, Technical Manager “The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is one of the fastest circuits on the F1 calendar with a relatively smooth track surface so three of our teams recently concentrated their testing efforts on the Monza and Paul Ricard tracks. Monza in particular is good for checking tyre construction durability due to its high speed nature. We gained some encouraging feedback from those tests and as a result we will be taking a combination of current and new tyre specifications. These specifications will be from the softer side of the compound range to suit the smooth surface.
We will need to monitor closely the heat durability of the tyres because of the track’s high speed nature but we believe we have a good selection of specifications which will be competitive in Montreal.”

Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Motorsport “The Canadian Grand Prix marks the half way point of the 2006 season. Bridgestone equipped teams have traditionally gone well in Montreal so we are looking forward to seeing our teams push hard over the next couple of weeks for podiums and points. Canada is also a particularly strong market for Bridgestone and I am delighted that our sales company there has a great marketing and promotional programme already in progress to really bring Formula One into the limelight. We have always received a great deal of support in Canada and it is a fantastic way to give something back to the fans.”