As tyre supplier for three of the four Italian riders in MotoGP, plus four Italian teams and home manufacturer Ducati, Bridgestone will be under considerable pressure to perform during this weekend's Italian Grand Prix - an event it has never won.

"Mugello is a fantastic race track and it is always a pleasure to contribute to such a special event with the hugely passionate Italian crowd," said Bridgestone's Hiroshi Yamada. "We have never experienced a race win in Mugello, but we hope to rectify this situation this weekend.

"We have many teams and riders who have their home grand prix this weekend with Ducati, Honda Gresini, Alice, Fiat Yamaha, as well as Italian riders Valentino Rossi, Marco Melandri and Loris Capirossi all wanting to do well in front of their home fans. This will naturally raise the pressure on us to provide competitive tyres, and following improved performances in recent races, I hope we can rise to this challenge," he declared.

Leading the list of potential Bridgestone race winners for the 2008 event will undoubtedly be Rossi, winner of the last six Italian Grands Prix for Michelin but a double race winner for Bridgestone at the last two rounds of this year's championship. A new range of qualifying tyres may also help Rossi battle for his first Bridgestone pole.

"We have to give riders the rear edge grip required for the corners, as well as a strong front to help them attack all corners, while the central part of the tyre needs to be strong to deal with the long Rettilineo straight," said Tohru Ubukata, manager of Race Tyre Development. "To cope with such a demanding circuit for the tyre, we will bring some new spec tyres, which are specifically tuned for Mugello, and we will bring new rear qualifiers based on the results in the post Le Mans test."