Bridgestone

Bridgestone : Rossi Racks up Number Nine

Casey Stoner won his second successive race at the rain-soaked Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, but it was Valentino Rossi’s third place that secured him back-to-back MotoGP world championships.

The Italian now has nine world motorcycle titles with seven of those coming in the premier class of racing.

Rossi rode a controlled race to take his place on the podium for the 163rd time across all three classes in his 226th successive Grand Prix start.

“This weekend I was so fast in the dry but right before the race it started to rain and we had to go on track with no wet setting,” Rossi said.

“This is a great achievement for me, my ninth championship and seventh in MotoGP. I have to thank all the guys, Yamaha, the Fiat Yamaha team, Peter [Rossi’s Bridgestone engineer] and all my friends and everyone who helped me to reach this achievement. We are the top and now we relax – the ninth championship is great!”

As a tropical rainstorm drenched the track just before the race, every rider started on Bridgestone ’s wet tyres. The track remained wet for the race distance, making it the only grand prix this season to be run in its entirety in wet conditions.

“I’d like to congratulate Casey for his dominant win here today in Sepang in very demanding conditions, and I would also like to congratulate Valentino Rossi and the Fiat Yamaha Team as their third position finish here secures him his ninth World Championship and his second consecutive World Title on Bridgestone tyres,” said Hiroshi Yasukawa, Director of Bridgestone Corporation.

Tags: Casey Stoner, MotoGP, Rossi