DUCATI MARLBORO MEN BEGIN EASTERN ODYSSEY The MotoGP World Championship embarks on its longest-ever overseas odyssey with a run of five races outside Europe, commencing with the Japanese Grand Prix on September 18. After Japan, Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa travel to Malaysia, Qatar, Australia and Turkey before finally returning to Europe for the season-ending Valencia GP on November 6. This eastern tour begins with the Ducati Marlboro Team in optimistic mood following Capirossi’s impressive display at last month’s Czech GP where he finished second after starting from the front row of the grid. “We can’t wait to get to Motegi,” says Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. “Loris had a great race at Brno and we are hoping for another good weekend at Motegi. We know the track suits the Desmosedici, we know that Bridgestone won last year’s race and we know that Loris is fast there. I believe both our riders will be able to do well in Japan.” Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli is also feeling good about the Japanese GP. “We have great expectations for this race,” he says. “Motegi is Bridgestone’s home race, they know the track well and they’ll be working very hard, like always. Their tyres worked even better than we’d expected in the Brno race – during the last five or ten laps we had an advantage over the other guys. Bridgestone’s latest tyres are now much better in warm-up performance and durability. The maximum potential of their tyres has always been good, now it looks like our riders can use that performance from the beginning of a race to the end.” The most important factors of machine performance at Motegi are braking and acceleration, so you have to find a settings compromise, because if you make the bike really good for braking, it will be worse during acceleration, and vice versa. Our riders are very happy with our current engine-braking management system. It’s different from last year’s – both in software and hardware. At Brno I think it gave us better corner entry than any of the other bikes, but we still need to work at improving straight-line braking performance, which is so important for overtaking.” Ensuring that the Ducati Marlboro Team has everything it needs at these five ‘flyaway’ races is obviously a major undertaking. Which is why the team carries an amazing 14,000 kilos of freight to these five events. CAPIROSSI ON A HIGH AND READY FOR MORE Loris Capirossi comes to Japan on a high – from his storming second-place finish at last month’s Czech GP. At Motegi the Ducati Marlboro Team man will be going for another podium finish, and he is confident of another great race, especially since this is Bridgestone’s home GP and because the Japanese tyre giant has made great strides forward at recent races. Bridgestone supplied an excellent new range of tyres for July’s German GP and improved them further for Brno. Development has continued prior to Motegi where, for their home Grand Prix, they will supply 3 specifications of the rear tyres, developed directly from those used in the German and Czech GPs. “Motegi’s character should work well for our tyres – the Bridgestones work really well in tighter, shorter turns where you’re mostly using medium lean angle,” says Capirossi. “They’ve done an amazing job recently and they have a lot of winning experience at Motegi, so I think we can have a good weekend. The track should be good for our bike too – it’s the kind of place where acceleration and braking are most important. The Ducati engine has always been very strong and I think its engine-braking system is the best there is. I like Motegi – even though it’s just full throttle, brake, full throttle, brake – so I’m looking forward to it. We didn’t have the best of starts to this season, so we really want to get some good results from the final few races.” CHECA DETERMINED TO FULFIL PROMISE Carlos Checa arrives in Japan determined to fulfil the promise he showed on Saturday at Brno, where he qualified on the second row of the grid after showing impressive race pace during practice. But race day didn’t go to plan for the Ducati Marlboro Team rider who didn’t choose the best rear tyre for the race. “It was frustrating but it’s part of racing – sometimes you don’t quite choose the best tyre,” says the Spaniard. “The main thing is that we are competitive now and I hope to turn that into good results during the remaining six races. Motegi is a stop-and-go track, with plenty of heavy braking, so you need good braking stability, so you’ve got the confidence in the front end to brake deep into the corners and turn quickly. Also there’s a lot of hard acceleration, which is good when you’ve got a lot of horsepower, and we have a lot of power. I also expect the Bridgestones to offer great grip because they know the track so well. With tyres it’s always a fight between performance and durability. Earlier this year we had performance at some races and durability at others, but Bridgestone have made big improvements, so now we have both, though it’ll take another few races to see if we have consistence performance from one track to another.” THE TRACK Twin Ring Motegi is stop-and-go in character with few high-speed corners. The track features plenty of slow turns linked by medium-length straights which puts the emphasis on braking and acceleration performance. Motegi hosted its inaugural Grand Prix, the Japanese GP, in 1999. From 2000 to 2003 the venue hosted the Pacific GP while the country’s older Suzuka track ran the Japanese GP until it was declared too dangerous following the 2003 event. Twin Ring Motegi is so called because it features both a Grand Prix track and an Indy oval. Constructed by Honda in 1998 to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary, the venue is located in the hills to the north west of Tokyo, between the cities of Mito and Utsonomiya. Motegi’s construction entailed a massive civil engineering project that included the razing of seven hills and the filling of two valleys. Lap record: Makoto Tamada (Honda), 1m 48.524s, 159.261kmh/98.960mph Pole position 2004: Tamada, 1m 46.673s DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS LORIS CAPIROSSI Age: 32 (born April 4, 1973) Lives: Monaco Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 23 (1xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125) First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125) First GP: Japan, 1990 (125) GP starts: 227 (57xMotoGP, 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) Motegi 2004 results: Grid: 7th. Race: DNF CARLOS CHECA Age: 32 (born October 15, 1972) Lives: London, England Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 2 (500) First GP victory: Catalunya, 1996 (500) First GP: Europe, 1993 (125) GP starts: 179 (59xMotoGP, 92×500, 27×250, 1×125) Pole positions: 3 (2xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: Spain, 1998 (500) Motegi 2004 results: Grid: 11th. Race: 7th