The Endurance World Championship is one of the toughest sporting events on Earth. Over 24 hours, riders must lap within one second of their fastest possible pace, making this one of the best series for developing new products.
Bridgestone has been the tire of choice for many years in the EWC, going head-to-head with Dunlop, while Pirelli has WorldSBK, and Michelin holds the reins of MotoGP. For much of the last five years, Bridgestone has used the EWC to develop the successor to the V02—but the V03 is more than just a replacement tire.
The V03 features a revised tire shape with a five percent larger contact patch and slightly larger shoulders on the front tire, while the rear tire is up six percent in contact-patch area with an overall wider, taller profile.
A revised molecular compound has given the V03 improved bite into the track surface, with Bridgestone claiming the rider gains more feel at the handlebars and improved all-important first touch of the throttle while fully leaned over.
Other improvements compared to the V02 include a faster initial turn-in when the brakes are first applied, more grip at full lean, and greater agility in places like chicanes.
Bridgestone claims the V03 reduces lap times by 1.3 percent when the soft compound is used, and the company also had an ace up its sleeve: using the world launch to debut its new Sprint compound, designed for short sessions where extreme grip is required, and longevity is a secondary consideration.
The Battlax V03 Sprint compound is due to go against tires like Pirelli’s super-soft SCX and Dunlop’s R3. It is available only on the rear tire and is paired with the soft compound, providing the rider with excellent grip for a qualifying lap or a club-style short race.
The Sprint is claimed to further improve the V03’s lap-time performance, with Bridgestone reporting that its test riders averaged 1.9 percent faster than the V02 at its test track at Oschersleben in Germany, the former site of WorldSBK racing in the country.
Interestingly, the V03 does not replace the V02 in Bridgestone’s lineup but moves firmly into the company’s top position in terms of racing tires.
As part of the Battlax R12 launch at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand late in 2025, we were given a day on the new V03 slicks to see if the claims matched up to the performance.
Lowdown | Bridgestone Battlax V03 Review
Standout Feature: Great front-tire feel and incredible performance from the Sprint rear compound.
Price: TBA
Bridgestone Battlax V03 Sizes
| Three sizes | (1 Front, 2 Rear) |
| Front | 120/70 R17 |
| Rear | 190/60 R17* |
| 200/60 R17 |
Only available in Europe and North America in 2026
* The 190/60 R17 will be sold from 2027
VIDEO | Bridgestone Racing Battlax V03 Slick Tire Launch
Rider Analysis | Bridgestone Battlax V03 Review
It’s extremely rare for any tire company to let a bunch of journalists out on its new slick racing tires, and it’s even more rare that they let you compare old and new tires on the same day.
That’s what we got at Buriram in Thailand, one of the newest venues on the MotoGP calendar. The circuit features a mix of long straights and sweeping corners that effectively test a tire company’s claims, and having ridden many laps on the V02, I was eager to test the new V03.
Bridgestone gave us a session on the soft compound V03 to get acclimatized to the slick tire’s incredible grip after a day on the street-based R12, and straight away, factors stood out—massive edge grip that enabled ridiculous elbow-dragging lean angles and a rear tire that had so much grip it started to push the front while dialing the power back in.
The larger footprint of the V03 gave exceptional feedback through the handlebars. Having raced for the last decade almost exclusively on Pirellis, the Bridgestone has a harder carcass that requires you to load the front a bit more to make it really bite in, but when you do, turn-in speed is exceptionally fast and stable.
Transfer that to the rear tire, and Bridgestone’s claims about a better feel when the throttle is first opened seemed spot on, as I could feel precisely what the rear end was doing. However, what I wasn’t prepared for was just how much grip the rear tire had, so much so that it was almost impossible to get the tire to break traction to finish off the corner. This had the adverse effect of the chassis pushing the front of the bike slightly wide, which I wasn’t used to with the Pirellis.
Once I had recalibrated how to get the most out of the rear tire by weighting the bike as much as possible and shifting my body towards the front more, the performance of the V03s was incredible.
Bridgestone then gave us a single session on the old V02, which reinforced everything the company had claimed. The V03 offered more predictable turn-in behavior, more feel and grip at the highest lean point of the corner, and more acceleration grip. It was quite eye-opening because the V02 is an excellent tire, and to see that big a jump from Bridgestone was impressive.
But the best was yet to come, as we got an extra session thrown in on the new Sprint super-soft compound. I will categorically state for the record that I am not good enough to get the most out of that tire. The grip levels offered by that Sprint rear tire were so huge that even a rider like Jeremy McWilliams struggled to really push the tire to its maximum.
Every strong performance factor of the base soft compound V03 was enhanced by the Sprint. Forget getting the rear to spin up if all you have is a five-lap club race. It offers strong performance, but I can’t comment on potential wear, as much of that is down to bike setup and track conditions.
Bridgestone has struggled somewhat in the North American race tire market, largely due to Dunlop’s extensive reach as MotoAmerica’s control tire supplier. This trails down to club racing, as those riders generally like to race what they need to race at a national level. However, if you’re not worried about that, the Bridgestone Battlax V03s offer a very compelling argument. The grip on offer is absolutely incredible, and I have no doubt more riders will be competing in red and white over the coming 12 months.CN
For more information, visit https://tires.bridgestone.com/en-us/motorcycle/tire-brand/battlax
Click here to read the Bridgestone Battlax V03 Review in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
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