MotoGP spec-tyre suppliers Bridgestone have answered criticisms over tyre wear at the Motorland Aragon race, saying they gave the riders what had been asked for at earlier rounds.

The firm has, in the past, come in for criticism that it took too long for tyres to warm up but on the flipside, riders enjoyed good grip to the end of the race. The compounds taken to Aragon warmed up faster as riders had requested but grip deteriorated earlier than previously, something the likes of Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden said they could cope with.

"Tyre wear was of course a crucial factor in the race, but within our expectations. Tyre wear was faster for some than others, as you would expect, but for example we can see from Casey that although his laptimes slowed after about mid-race distance, they did so consistently and manageably," said Bridgestone engineer Masao Azuma.

“At this high level of motorcycle racing tyre compound selection is always a balance between warm-up performance and race-distance durability. You maximise one at the detriment of the other. This season riders have specifically been asking for tyres that have improved warm-up performance for improved safety in the early laps and were happy to sacrifice some race-distance durability for this, and this is exactly what we saw happen on Sunday.

“A look at the laptimes indicates that the warm-up performance of our tyres was very good today even though the track temperature was 13 degrees Celsius cooler than last year’s Aragon GP. Casey was under the previous record

on just his second lap of the race whilst his new record was set on lap four, and the top ten fastest riders all set their best within the opening six laps so you can’t ask for much more in terms of warm-up.

"And as I just said the flip-side of this, as the riders know, is that tyre performance will drop off later in the race as durability is not as good. The tarmac and conditions at Aragon also encouraged tyre wear – the circuit started off quite dirty on Friday and tyre wear was quite high then, again as you’d expect.

"As it cleaned through the weekend, the wear appearance improved but by the race it was still dirty off-line so those riders who were in battles would have suffered more from this as they moved off the ideal line to attack or defend. Tyre wear on Sunday was not a problem, it was just a factor of the above.”