Bridgestone motorsport wrap for 23rd June 2008
Stoner back on top with Bridgestone
Australia's Casey Stoner has thrust himself back in championship contention after a faultless performance at the British MotoGP Grand Prix at Donington.
With his Ducati on its Bridgestone tyres fastest in both practice and qualifying, the reigning world champion simply blasted away from pole position and was never headed on his way to a comfortable victory.
Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa were left to fight over second and third placings, with the Italian winning the Yamaha v Honda duel, making it a one-two for Bridgestone.
"I am extremely pleased with this 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," said Tohru Ubukata, Bridgestone Motorsport's Manager of Motorcycle Race Tyre Development.
"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."
Stoner's second MotoGP victory of the season closes the gap to championship leader Rossi to 45 points as the championship enters the half-way stage.
"Now we know we can fight for it (the title) now. We hope it's game on now, we didn't think this was a track we could do well on," said Stoner.
It was Rossi's 200th race and although he didn't win it, he was typically relaxed afterwards.
"We tried for victory but Casey was too strong. I'm back on the podium here in front of a large crowd and in front of Pedrosa, so I have added four more points to my lead over him," said Rossi, who now has 162 championship points.
Pedrosa's third-place means he remains second in the overall standings on 151 with the teams now heading to Assen in the Netherlands for round nine of the championship in a week's time.
British MotoGP result:
1 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati Marlboro 44 mins 44.982 secs
2 V Rossi (Ita) Fiat Yamaha 44:50.771
3 D Pedrosa (Spa) Repsol Honda 44:53.329
4 C Edwards (US) Tech 3 Yamaha 44:57.660
5 A Dovizioso (Ita) JiR Team Scot 44:59.783
6 J Lorenzo (Spa) Fiat Yamaha 45:00.672
Another one-two for Ferrari
The French Grand Prix at Magny Cours was a race of contrasts for the leading players - for Ferrari, it was their third one-two of the year, while for Lewis Hamilton it was the third race in a row where he failed to score any championship points.
The title-chase is now led by Felipe Massa, who scored his third win of the year and eighth of his career, overtaking teammate Kimi Raikkonen after 39 of 70 laps when the Finn's exhaust started giving him problems.
"The win came my way because Kimi had a problem with his car and, at the pace he was running, it would have been hard for me to beat him on the track," Massa said.
"I would have been happy with second place but of course, the win makes me even happier!"
Raikkonen managed to finish second to extend Ferrari's lead in the constructor's championship after eight of this year's 18 races. Massa now leads the driver's title chase by two points from Robert Kubica, who finished fifth, with Raikkonen a further three points adrift.
"We are very happy with our tyre performance here today," said Hirohide Hamashima, Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development.
"There were many strategies possible, but I believe the best solution was the medium/medium/soft strategy that we saw most drivers use. Kimi was fastest, but unfortunately for him he had a problem and he had to be patient to take second place. Congratulations to Felipe and Ferrari for their win and especially to Felipe for taking the championship lead."
Third place went to an emotional Jarno Trulli, with the Toyota driver dedicating the podium to former team boss Ove Andersson who was killed in a vintage rally car crash in South Africa earlier this month.
Australia's Mark Webber had another solid race, taking sixth place behind the McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen and the BMW of Kubica. The two Renaults took the final points positions, with Nelson Piquet heading illustrious teammate Fernando Alonso.
Having started from 13th due to his ten-place grid penalty for crashing into Raikkonen at the last grand prix, Lewis Hamilton could do no better than tenth after falling foul of the officials again. This time, he drove too aggressively and missed out a chicane as he made a first-lap passing move - for which he was handed a drive-through penalty.
"I've been out of the points for three races now - but there are still ten to go," Hamilton said.
"Kimi came from behind to win last year's championship, so there's no reason to be disheartened. I'm ten points behind, but I'm determined to bounce back at Silverstone in front of my home crowd."
Formula One teams will be testing this week at Silverstone using the hard and medium compound Potenza tyres in preparation for the British Grand Prix at the track on July 4th.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time/Retired |
| 1 | 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:31:50.245 |
| 2 | 1 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | +17.9 secs |
| 3 | 11 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | +28.2 secs |
| 4 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren | +28.9 secs |
| 5 | 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | +30.5 secs |
| 6 | 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | +40.3 secs |
| 7 | 6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | +41.0 secs |
| 8 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | +43.3 secs |