From a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati:
Ducati Marlboro Team GP preview
Rio GP, Jacarepagua – July 2/3/4
DUCATI MARLBORO MEN READY TO ROCK AT RIO
Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss head south to Brazil this week for what promises to be a fascinating Rio Grand Prix. The pair raced the factory’s new Twin Pulse engine for the first time in last Saturday’s Dutch TT and the outing made them optimistic about the future.
“We go to Rio in a very positive mood,” says Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “The new engine is a further step forward, so we’re looking forward to the next few races which should be very interesting for us. A special thanks to our technical partners and in particular to Shell Advance for their important contribution”.
At the moment Capirossi and Bayliss each have one bike equipped with the new engine – which uses different firing intervals to produce more rider-friendly horsepower for extra corner-exit traction – and one with the original Four Pulse power-unit. It will be several races at least before they have two of the new engines each, so the team will be doing everything in its power to allow them to ride as much as possible with the Twin Pulse.
“From now on we aim to keep both riders focusing on the Twin Pulse, if at all possible,” says Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “That means having enough spare parts and so on and our suppliers are working hard in this period. Rio will be different from 2003 because this year’s race is two months earlier, so conditions will be cooler. Rio has a very fast straight but the Twin Pulse makes more or less the same power as the Four Pulse, so it has more or less the same top speed. And as the corner before the straight is crucial the new engine can have more top speed because it gives riders more confidence coming out of corners.”
Since Rio GP practice starts less than six days after last weekend’s Dutch TT ended, logistics play a vital part in making Sunday’s race happen. Dario Raimondi is the Ducati Marlboro Team manager responsible for ensuring that everything and everyone is in place for the weekend’s action.
“We have almost nine tonnes of freight flown to Rio with the two 747s that take all the MotoGP freight,” he says. “The 747s left Europe on Sunday and arrive in Rio on Monday to allow time for customs clearance so everything is at the track on Tuesday.”
The Ducati Marlboro Team stays at Jacarepagua for tests on Monday.
On July 9th Randy Mamola, on the Ducati Desmosedici two-seater, will take part in the opening ceremony of Qatar’s new Losail track, venue for October’s Marlboro Qatar GP.
CAPIROSSI KEEN TO MAKE MORE STEPS FORWARD
Loris Capirossi can’t wait to get going at Rio, now that he knows his Twin Pulse Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4 is working well. The Italian finished just four seconds outside a podium finish at Assen last weekend in his first race with the engine.
“The new engine is easier to ride than the Four Pulse, both in the dry and in rain conditions,” he says. “Everyone at Ducati and within the team is working very hard. This is our first real step forward since the season started and I think it’s an important step, so now we want to keep moving forward. Rio is a very fast track with many fast, open corners and it’s got an unbelievably quick main straight, so it suited our bike last year. But you never know what to expect when you go to Rio because the circuit can be very dirty, which complicates set-up work. Last year the weather was also very changeable – cold one day, hot the next – which makes tyre choice very difficult.”
BAYLISS BACK ON TRACK WITH THE TWIN PULSE
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss is also looking forward to riding his Twin Pulse Desmosedici GP4 at Jacarepagua.
“I think the new engine is definitely the way to go for the future,” says the Aussie. It makes the bike smoother and more comfortable to ride, so the lap times come without taking risks. The Twin Pulse also makes the bike a little more stable because it’s smoother on the gas. It feels like it’s got more traction and it has got more traction. Rio isn’t a bad track. It’s easy enough to learn but like most places it’s getting the last little bit out of it which isn’t so easy. The only thing that most people complained about last year was that there wasn’t much grip, and I guess it’ll be pretty much the same this time.”
THE TRACK
The Jacarepagua circuit has been hosting rounds of the motorcycling World Championships on and off since the mid-nineties. The track staged its inaugural GP in September 1995, taking over from the original Brazilian GP venues of Goiania (which hosted the 1987, ’88 and ’89 events) and Interlagos (which staged a one-off race in ’92). Since ’96 the races at Jacarepagua have been run under the mantle of the Rio Grand Prix.
The circuit itself is fast and open, encouraging close racing. Mostly fast, bumpy and slippery, the circuit may not allow gravity-defying cornering like some grippier tracks but its 1.1km back straight (one of the longest in GP racing) promotes slipstreaming, which helps keep riders bunched together all race long.
Jacarepaguà: 4.933km/3.065 miles
Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Honda), 1m 50.453s (2003)
Pole position 2003: Rossi, 1m 49.038s
DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM DATA LOGS
LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 31 (April 4, 1973)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4
GP victories: 23 (1xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
GP starts: 206 (36xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125)
Pole positions: 36 (3xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Rio 2003 results. Grid: 2nd. Race: 6th
TROY BAYLISS
Age: 35 (March 30, 1969)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4
First GP: Australia, 1997 (250)
GP starts: 23 (22xMotoGP, 1×250)
World Superbike victories: 22
World Championships: 1 (Superbike: 2001)
Rio 2003 results. Grid: 5th . Race: 10th
More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:
Round Seven – ~Rio GP Jacarepagua, July 4, 2004
PROTON KR V5 RETURNS TO RIO
Proton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts join their MotoGP competitors on the road to Rio this Sunday, for a race that all hope will be very different from the previous weekend at Assen.
In the far north of Holland, the European summer gave two days of driving rain, leaving everyone short of set-up time for the eventually dry race. Eight days later (Assen is a Saturday race) they line up in the southern hemisphere mid-winter, but expecting better weather nonetheless.
Assen was a tough weekend for the Proton KR pair, with both retiring from the race with different technical problems. With no time for anything but quick-fix solutions, the team were hoping that their previous strong performances at the Brazilian track show that this is a circuit that rewards their special strengths.
“The track has a long back straight, but we usually do better there than we expect. We still hold the fastest two-stroke lap there, on our relatively underpowered three-cylinder 500,” said team manager Chuck Aksland.
“It seems that our good handling and chassis have a bigger effect on lap times than the straight-line speed. That should carry through to our current bike,” he said.
The 2004 V5 MotoGP prototype is still at a relatively early stage of development. A revised engine, now with a longer stroke and changed firing order, is housed in a unique carved-from-solid chassis, using aerospace technology new to motorcycle racing.
“We haven’t yet achieved the levels of engine performance and reliability we expected by this stage. Because of the short time between races the machines at Rio will be the same as our Assen bikes,” said Aksland.
“The Dunlop tyres took a step up at Assen, and we hope that will carry through to Rio as well.
“We need to make sure everything is as well-prepared as possible,” he said.
The Rio race, seventh of 16 MotoGP rounds, takes place at the Nelson Piquet circuit at Jacarepagua, south of Rio de Janeiro’s famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. The circuit is made up of fast wide corners, but is notoriously bumpy, putting a stronger than usual emphasis on chassis and suspension integrity.
NOBUATSU AOKI – A CHANCE TO GET BACK
The new Dunlop tyre that we found worked well at Catalunya tests was not quite so successful at Assen, but Assen is a very different circuit, and I’m pretty sure that it will be good at Rio. The track has a similar surface to Catalunya, so I believe that the improvement will also be effective there. I’m looking forward to a good weekend.
KURTIS ROBERTS – I WANT MORE POINTS
At least I’ve been to this track before, though that was seven years ago on a 250. It helps to know which way the corners go. I need to get a lot more laps than I’ve been getting, to learn the bike as well as the circuits. At the moment, our efforts are a lot higher than the results. I hope that changes, and we get a finish in the points at Rio.