Bridewell bemoans track temperature tyre woes

Tommy Bridewell has been left suffering in qualifying for this year’s Suzuka 8 Hour, as increasing track temperatures have left the Pirelli-shod Penz13.com BMW France bike at a further disadvantage over their main rivals.

Running tyres similar to BSB-specification Pirellis against Japanese teams on Bridgestones closer to the firm’s MotoGP rubber than their road-going tyres, today’s dramatic increase in temperature after a wet and cloudy start has left the Wiltshire rider unhappy.

“We’re at that stage of the weekend where we have to run on old tyres and that, so it’s becoming harder to get the lap times. My teammate Marcus Reiterberger was on a new set of tyres this morning, when the track temperature was like 50ºC, but then I went out on his old set and the temperature rose by 12ºC! You can’t imagine how quickly the temperature here can rise.

“The Pirellis just can’t deal with the temperature, and once the track went above 60ºC, I was fucked. It’s a shame, because my race pace is the strongest in the team, and I would love to try out a race tyre in the second qualifying – but the qualifier tyre gives you so much more; you can’t afford not to run it.”

However, despite his tyre issues, the Tyco BMW BSB race winner is still happy with his progress – and says that he expects to be stronger in the race than in qualifying anyways.

“In my session, I went out at the very front with the SERT Suzukis and Josh Waters on the Yoshimura bike, and was able to come right past Josh. The fastest time in the session was a 2:10.2 and I did a 10.5 – but to be honest, that was fucking hanging it out! Pushing hard!

“I would rather do the whole session on a race tyre and chip away, but I just can’t. The bike is working well, though, and I think if we can keep the pace up and the other guys in the team can get a little stronger, then we can do quite well in the race. We just need to see how qualifying goes first!”