James Toseland confident in Bridgestone’s 2009 plan

British rider James Toseland is confident that Bridgestone’s decision to slash the tyre allocation by 50 per cent will work in next season’s MotoGP world championship.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider, who will have to wait until the end of November to make his Bridgestone debut in Jerez, believes the reduction to just 20 tyres per rider can be a success under the new single tyre rule.

For 2009, riders will only have two different front tyre and two different rear tyre compounds to select from per race, with eight fronts and 12 rears making up the total under proposals finally agreed after much debate during last weekend’s Sepang GP.

At present, riders can have as many as 40 tyres, including qualifiers.

Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner initially slammed the number, saying it would be inadequate, but further talks with Bridgestone helped calm their fears.

Toseland, one of a few riders to have experience a single tyre rule from his World Superbike days, told MCN that Bridgestone was obviously confident in the quota to submit the proposal.

“If they are confident enough to only give that amount then they are confident that the product will be good enough or have something across the board people will be happy with. They must be confident with what they have got. Because if people are a bit wary of that, and it will be Bridgestone people, they will know if that amount is enough as it will be them taking the heat if its not enough.

“The Bridgestone boys will have a bigger say than me because I don’t know what range they have been working in from track to track to get the grip.

“I’m sure the Bridgestone riders are going to be a bit wary of it, because some of them might have six or seven specs that they find hard to get working now, and if its down to two then it becomes a bigger issue. As long as the quality control is there then its fine by me.”