After the MotoGP race held today a the circuit of Misano, Mr. Kosuke Yasutake, Director General of HRC, and Mr. Arturo Sus, Vice-director of Repsol Sports Sponsorship, have announced together in a press conference that owing to Pedrosa`s lack of confidence in the Michelin tyres he has been supplied with in the last few races, a decision has been taken to provide Pedrosa with tyres produced by Bridgestone for the rest of the 2008 season.
After the statement made by Mr. Hamane, President of HRC, at the end of the Czech Republic GP, in which he announced that he would work hard to satisfy the tyre needs of the Japanese manufacturer`s official riders next season, Repsol told HRC that an immediate solution to the problem was considered necessary, and not an extension of the situation until the 2009 season.
From that moment on until the arrival of the San Marino GP this weekend, HRC and Repsol have been working jointly to change the tyre supplier for Dani Pedrosa, something that has been achieved and announced at this Sunday`s press conference.
Tomorrow Monday, Dani Pedrosa will ride his Repsol Honda RC212V with Bridgestone tyres for the first ever time, and in fifteen days he will tackle his first race, Indianapolis, with this supplier. He will also use Bridgestone products in the four races remaining in the 2008 season. The Repsol Honda Team rider occupies third position in the overall standings after the San Marino GP, just two points behind Casey Stoner – second – and 75 behind the leader, the Italian Valentino Rossi.
Arturo Sus, Vice-director of Repsol Sports Sponsorship
“One of our obligations as main sponsor of the Repsol Honda Team is to put pressure on the team, the factory and even the riders,when we think we have to do so, this is so that we get the results we expect after investing in this project. After the race in Brno, we all knew that Dani Pedrosa was not satisfied with the sensations he was getting from his bike.
Mr. Hamane thought it was HRC`s responsibility to back any decision taken by the rider. We all understand that for the 2009 season HRC would seriously think about changing to the option of having Bridgestone as supplier. From Repsol`s point of view it was thought that this was not enough and so we then told Honda about the need for an immediate change in supplier, a move to Bridgestone for Dani Pedrosa.
This is not a comfortable situation, neither for us nor for Honda, and obviously more so for Michelin, but we think that this is the right decision. Fortunately, this change has occurred this Sunday, and so from Monday onwards Dani Pedrosa will use Bridgestone tyres.”
