Turkish GP Preview Bridgestone confident for Istanbul’s new challenge After the long trip downunder to Phillip Island, one of Australia’s remote holiday destinations, the MotoGP circus stages its next show in the bustling Turkish capital of Istanbul. Designed by German architect Hermann Tielke, who also built the Shanghai and Sepang race tracks, the brand-new Istanbul Park Circuit was only inaugurated with a Formula 1 race recently, and has never hosted a motorcycle race before. Riders and technicians have derived their track knowledge from television images and computer layouts along with the data gathered during the Formula 1 weekend. Unlike the majority of venues in the MotoGP calendar, the 5.340 kilometre-track runs anti-clockwise, with eight of its 14 turns going left. The short main straight and a slow first lefthand corner are followed by a long right-hand corner which is one of the key points of the track: The MotoGP riders are expected to shift from second to fourth gear at high lean angle, and the rear tyres will have to withstand enormous amounts of stress and heat build-up, similar to the last left-hand corner of Phillip Island one week ago. A great variety of slow and ultra-fast corners with constant elevation changes follow, and thrilling cornering at full throttle and hard-braking from fast straights to second-gear turns will test chassis and tyre set-up to the max. Carlos Checa, who scored his second podium finish aboard his Bridgestone-fitted Ducati Desmosedici last weekend in Australia, is just in the right mood for the new challenge. “My aim is to continue the progress we’ve made in recent months”; says the 33-year-old Spaniard. “Even though we all start from zero at this track, we know our bike and tyres work well.” Checa will be joined by Shinichi Ito, Japanese Superbike Champion and Bridgestone’s tyre test rider. “I have good experience on the Ducati Desmosedici, having done many tests with the bike, and I’m looking forward to racing alongside all the full-time MotoGP riders”; says Ito. The 38-year-old Japanese comes in to replace Loris Capirossi, who returned back home to Italy and is now recovering from his internal injuries suffered at a horrific practice crash in Australia. Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts also fell heavily and broke his left wrist in the first practice session at the Australian Grand Prix, but will not be replaced for the race in Turkey. Hiroshi Yamada – Motorcycle Racing Manager Bridgestone Motorsport “In last week’s AustraliaGP, we obtained our 8th podium of the year on a track that is known to be hard on tyres. I am very pleased with this result as our tyre performance lasted throughout the entire race. However, I am also hoping for fast recoveries by Loris and Kenny who had unfortunate accidents at that race. This week’s TurkishGP will be a new challenge for us as it is hard to predict what kind of problems we will face at this new track. With the information we have from the F1 team, we have prepared around 4~5 specs of new compound and construction using our newest generation of tyres as its base. The compound variation is wide ranged to cope with what we predict to be a low grip surface and variable weather conditions. We hope for good results at this first ever GP with these tyres. Shinichi Ito will substitute for Loris Capirossi in this race, and he should be a big plus for our tyre development for this track.!”