BRIDGESTONE MOTORSPORT:

Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo took a dominant victory at the second Indianapolis Grand Prix today, using the harder option front and softer option rear asymmetric Bridgestone slicks to set the fastest lap and a new lap record in the process. Completing the top three were two new visitors to the MotoGP podium in 2009; San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis who recorded his best ever MotoGP finish in second position and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, the American scoring his best result and first podium of the season on home soil. De Angelis used the same slick tyre compound options as Lorenzo, but Hayden made best use of his softer front slick to climb from sixth on the grid to a hard-fought third, resisting increasing pressure at the end of the race from Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso on a harder front slick. Lorenzo’s victory exactly halves teammate Valentino Rossi’s championship lead, leaving the race for the 2009 MotoGP World Championship wide open with five races remaining in the first year of Bridgestone’s tenure as Official Tyre Supplier.

Mikio Masunaga – Bridgestone Corporation Vice President and Senior Officer

“I would like to congratulate Jorge Lorenzo and the Fiat Yamaha Team for their excellent victory here today in Indianapolis. America is a very significant market for Bridgestone Corporation and we are honoured to be able to come here for the second time this season as MotoGP’s Official Tyre Supplier. I would like to thank all the teams and Dorna for their continued support and for organising another fantastic grand prix.”

Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

“Yesterday Dani set a new pole position record on Bridgestone tyres, and today Jorge set a new lap record on our tyres so this has been a good weekend for us at Indianapolis. We saw some good battles, particularly between Nicky and Andrea, and James and Marco. I’d like to congratulate Alex and the San Carlo team for his first MotoGP podium, and also Nicky and the Ducati Team for a very well deserved third place at his home grand prix. I am pleased with the durability of our tyres over a race distance as Indianapolis is an abrasive circuit and some riders, like Alex, set their fastest lap right at the end of the race. The fight between Nicky and Andrea also gave us a good comparison between the softer and harder front tyres, and their close battle shows the wide operating range of each of the compounds we have developed this season. Even in the last laps Nicky and Andrea were evenly matched on laptimes, demonstrating the crossover in performance of tyre compounds we have achieved as sole tyre supplier.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Race Winner

“What a race! You know, in a world championship like this you have to always be on the limit to win. In the last two races I was on the limit and crashed, but today the situation changed completely. Today everything felt great on the bike and I think I could have done a 1m 39.8, but when Valentino crashed I closed the throttle a bit. Before this race I said the championship is almost impossible, but now it is possible for sure. I had a lot of fun in the last lap and I am very happy!”