Bridgestone set to contest 500 GP
| As one of several events to mark its 70th anniversary in 2001, Bridgestone will this week begin an intensive tyre testing programme at Jerez in Spain as the Japanese manufacturer sets in motion its plans to contest 500cc Motorcycle Grands Prix from 2003. The programme will take place over eleven scheduled sessions, mostly at Jerez and Brno in the Czech Republic, beginning with this week’s three-day test (18-20 January) at the Spanish circuit. Bridgestone has contracted Erv Kanemoto of Kanemoto Racing to undertake the testing programme using Honda NSR500 machines supplied by HRC. The renowned Kanemoto established his name as one of GP racing’s finest development engineers with Honda’s factory team from 1982 to 1988. Kanemoto’s reputation has persuaded Nobuatsu Aoki and Shinichi Itoh to become full-time test riders for the Bridgestone programme. Both Japanese riders have years of valuable 500cc GP experience: 29-year-old Aoki finished third in the 1997 world championship while Itoh, 34, had a best overall result of fifth in the 1995 season. Since 1997, he has ridden in the Japanese Superbike Series where he was champion in 1998. Akira Inoue, vice-president of tyre development at Bridgestone’s Tokyo Technical Centre, will head the £4 million testing programme, to which 38 full-time Bridgestone staff have been assigned. Bridgestone, the world’s largest tyre manufacturer, has supplied tyres for the 125cc GP world championship since 1991 and, last season, three of the top eight finishers – including fourth-placed Mazao Azuma, who won the final GP at Phillip Island in Australia – were on Bridgestone tyres. |