If you read Dirck’s article last month, you may remember his opinion that Bridgestone seems to have reached parity with Michelin as far as the quality of its MotoGP race rubber. That may be true for dry-weather slicks, but it seems that Michelin still holds an edge when it comes to rain tires.
Looking at the results from the rain-soaked third day of IRTA testing in Catalunya last week, you can see that the three fastest times of the day were all posted by Michelin riders (Edwards, Hayden, and Rossi, in that order). James Ellison recorded the fourth-quickest time on Dunlops, and the highest-ranked Bridgestone rider was Chris Vermeulen in fifth (almost 3 seconds slower than Edwards).
So while Bridgestone may be close to where they need to be as far as slicks go, these test results will certainly send a message to their tire engineers – namely, get back to work on the rain tires!
