Casey Stoner may have taken a dominant victory in the Qatar season opener, but the inaugural MotoGP night race was somethi💫ng of a tough event for Bridgestone - in overall terms - with only two riders finishing in the top seven.

The Japanese rubber suffered more than the Michelins during the cold night time conditions, ﷺbut this weekend's second round at Jerez will be on much more fami♉liar territory.

"Everybody knows Jerez very well from testing so there is a lot of data at our🤪 disposal," said Hiroshi Yamada, Bridgestone Motorsport's manager of Motorcycle Sport. "Teams will have a good idea of the set-up they require for their bikes, so the first practice will be used to confirm or make slight adjustments before we start the usual process of tyre﷽ evaluation for the weekend."

Pre-season testing at the Spanish circuit produced promising results, although last year's race marked the first and only time t🦹hat a Bridgestone-shod rider did not secure a podium finish in a 2007 grand prix.

The likes of Stoner and new Bridgestone recruit Valentino Rossi - fifth at Qatꦆar - will be eager to reverse that form, and be aided 🎉by some new rear qualifying tyres to try and prevent a repeat of the all-Michelin front row seen at Losail.

"Grid position is important at Jerez because it is so competitive and not so easy to overtake. We are still working hard on our qualifying tyres and will introduce some new rear qual🌺ifiers in Jerez this weekend, which we hope will offer riders the extra grip that is needed," revealed Yamada.

"Some riders have also expressed an ꧙interest in a front qualifying tyre which we initially started to look at during last season and are continuing to develop. In the past, a front qualifier did not offer a significant advantage over a standard front tyre, but we are continuing into this as part of our ongoing development plans for this season," he added.