From a press release issued by Camel Honda Racing Information:

AUSTRALIA SEES END OF MOTOGP’S INTERCONTINENTAL TOUR


The MotoGP World Championship lands at one of the most prestigious events on the whole calendar this week. The Phillip Island circuit in Australia is widely regarded as one of the most scenic and challenging around, and it is hard to deny its difficulty from both a technical level for the bike’s preparation, as well as the test it provides for riders. The Camel Honda team arrives at the race on the back of a satisfying event, where strength of character and the ability to react to new situations once again came to the fore, as Max Biaggi took his eighth podium finish of the season and Makoto Tamada fought back courageously up to fifth spot. The squad’s aim is to continue to show themselves as one of the best outfits in the championship, getting both riders in a position to be fighting for victory.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)

“The great race in Malaysia has given us strength and confidence, and the right kind of enthusiasm with which to confront a challenging event like the one in Australia. Max turned a corner in Sepang, after an especially unlucky period, and he took a fantastic podium. Makoto showed once more that he is a fast and determined fighter and he has performed at the highest level in this second half of the season. We have to continue like this. We want to win again before the end of the season and both Max and Makoto have the chance of doing so.”

Max Biaggi #3: (Michelin Tyres)

“We come to one of my favourite circuits feeling a range of emotions and sensations. Satisfaction for having returned to the podium after three races to forget about, a great motivation to continue at this level, and to go on to get on the top step, and perhaps more than anything, regret at not being able to fight for the title with my rivals. However, seeing as it is useless to look back, we’ll be focusing on the next race. The winter tests here went really well, but I don’t want to think too much about those results, because it’s possible that now the conditions will be completely different. I’ll just say that I hope to be quick straight away on Friday, but I’m also ready to deal with any more difficult situation, like in Malaysia, where with my team and the Honda technicians, we reacted well to the difficulties we came up against.”

Giulio Bernardelle – Camel Honda (Makoto Tamada’s Technical Director)

“The Australian GP will be a big challenge for us. In last year’s GP we had a few problems adapting the tyres to the track’s particular configuration, whilst in the February tests we got some positive results, but still with things left to test. In fact Makoto rode much better than in the race, but at the same time we had to finish the tests a day early because Bridgestone decided to put some of the material they brought through further tests. In any case, they have done a lot of work since then and made so much progress, so we are ready to take on this challenge with great confidence.”

Makoto Tamada #6: (Bridgestone Tyres)

“I left Malaysia on Monday and arrived in Australia on Tuesday. Three races one after the other don’t give you the time to return home of course and seeing as Phillip Island isn’t exactly a metropolis, perhaps I will dedicate my time before Thursday to one of my favourite hobbies, fishing… At least there will be fish there! Joking aside, the Australian race will be very tough, above all because it will be very cold. We have to check how our tyres react to such a diverse temperature change from the last two races. However, in this second part of the championship they have proved themselves to work in many different situations, so I hope that they will let me go well here.”