Super GT Fuji Testing
The signs Bridgestone has closed in on Michelin with new wet tyre
Michelin will no longer enjoy the same margin over its rival tyre manufacturers in wet conditions as it did in 2022, believes Nissan SUPER GT driver Bertrand Baguette.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Apr 14, 2023, 12:00 PM
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The French tyre firm, which supplies just the two NISMO-run Nissan Zs in the 15-car GT500 field, revealed a new specification of wet tyre for the 2022 season designed to maximise performance in mixed conditions.
That allowed Nissan to take a crushingly dominant 1-2 in the only wet race of the year at Sugo, where the best Bridgestone-shod finisher was only fourth.
Rivals Bridgestone, Yokohama and Dunlop have all been busy developing new wet tyres of their own in a bid to close the gap, with these making their first public appearances in last weekend’s rain-hit Fuji pre-season test.
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While the radical new Yokohama tread design worked well in the damp but not in heavy rain, the 10 Bridgestone cars appeared to be strongest when conditions were at their worst, notably on the second day of the test.
There was however encouragement for Bridgestone in the opening session of the weekend, held during persistent but not torrential rain, as the Rookie Racing Toyota of Kenta Yamashita went fastest ahead of the two Michelin-shod Nissans.
For Baguette, whose Impul team is the only Bridgestone team in the four-car Nissan camp, a repeat of Michelin’s crushing performance at Sugo is unlikely based on the evidence at Fuji.
“Yamashita especially was doing some good lap times when the track had a bit more surface water in the morning,” Baguette told Motorsport.com on Saturday. “So that was definitely positive. But it looked like Michelin was consistently faster with less water on the track.
“I think Bridgestone caught up a little bit, and it looks like Yokohama caught up as well. I don’t think Michelin will dominate like they did at Sugo last year. The gap is closer now, and from our side, we have a big margin to improve."
Baguette, who along with Impul team-mate Kazuki Hiramine was a low-key 12th-fastest on the opening day of the test and overall, said the new Bridgestone tread pattern (pictured above) had “positives and negatives”.
The Belgian continued: “The tricky point for Bridgestone is that it has to fit with Toyota, Honda and Nissan, and everyone has to use the same, while Michelin only has one brand [Nissan], so maybe it’s a bit easier for them.
“Now it’s up to Bridgestone to decide if they want to use [the new tyre] for the season or not. I don’t know what decision they will take.”
ARTA Honda driver Tomoki Nojiri offered a similar view, saying he didn’t think the new tread pattern was the reason for Bridgestone’s strong performance in heavy wet conditions.
Nojiri Motorsport.com’s Japanese edition: “The feeling is very different [with the new tread pattern], but whether it’s better or not is hard to say. I don’t feel like it works in any conditions.
“I think water displacement has always been a strong point of Bridgestone, and that you can warm up the tyre even in heavy wet conditions. I don’t think it’s because the tread pattern changed.
“While we can see the tread pattern from the outside, there are more important things that you can’t see. If Bridgestone had the same tread pattern as Yokohama, I don’t think they would be exactly the same.”
NISMO driver Quintarelli, who shares the #23 Nissan with Tsugio Matsuda, suffered an off at 100R in the afternoon session of the second day of the Fuji test during some of the worst conditions seen across the two days of running.
The Italian said he felt Michelin may still have a small advantage in lighter rain, but added that the track temperatures at Fuji were too cold for the French tyres to be in their ideal working range.
“In the conditions of Saturday morning, it seems it's very close [between Michelin and the others],” Quintarelli told Motorsport.com. “Maybe we are still a bit in front. But I don't think we have any margin.
“It seems Bridgestone has changed something important, and they know how to make good tyres! It's always like this in SUPER GT - one year, one tyre manufacturer is in front, then the next year the others are catching up.
“I'm not surprised that Bridgestone closed the gap. It looks a lot closer than the gap we had last year at Sugo.
“One year ago at Fuji in this test, it seemed we were in front with some margin. But I think there was less water on track last year.”
Additional reporting by Kenichiro Ebii
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