From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

DUCATI MARLBORO MEN BEGIN OVERSEAS ODYSSEY

The Ducati Marlboro Team arrives at Twin Ring Motegi to begin a gruelling run of four overseas races over just five weekends. Competing in the Land of the Rising Sun for the first and only time this year, the Italian squad is anxious to continue the progress made with its Desmosedici GP4 over the last few months.

Although riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss didn’t get close to the podium at the Marlboro Portuguese GP on September 5, both men rode determined races, racing through the pack from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid. But there’s no doubt that they face another tough weekend at Motegi, a Honda-owned circuit constructed by the Japanese manufacture to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 1998, at a cost of US$350 million.

“We think this may be our most challenging race of the year,” says Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “We never test in this track and we’ve only been there once in 2003 for the Pacific GP. Last year we had a tough time at Motegi, but we really learned a lot, so we’re approaching this year’s race in a positive state of mind. Although our results at Estoril don’t look that great, our race pace was good, so I think we again showed we are improving. We know that we are heading in the right direction, so we’ll keep going in that direction.”

The Motegi track is very stop-and-go, dominated by slow-speed hairpins, so the most important performance factors are braking and low-gear acceleration. This requires a delicate compromise in set-up.

“At Motegi you need to set up the bike mostly for braking and acceleration, rather than corner speed,” says Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “But you have to be careful, because the two things usually don’t come together. If we choose the correct springs and suspension settings we can improve braking without hurting the bike’s attitude during acceleration and vice versa. Last year at Motegi we had a tough time, but it was our first visit to the place, so at least now we know what the troubles may be.”

After Sunday’s racing the MotoGP circus continues its end-of-season overseas odyssey, with the Marlboro Qatar GP two weeks hence, followed immediately by the Marlboro Malaysian GP and the Australian GP. The season concludes at Valencia, Spain, on October 31.

CAPIROSSI HOPES FOR BETTER LUCK AT MOTEGI

Loris Capirossi may only have finished seventh at Estoril two weeks ago but his ride was one of the most impressive of the day, considering he had been rammed off the track on lap one, regaining the tarmac in 19th place. At Motegi he hopes for better luck so he can display to full effect the recent improvements made to his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4.

“I like Motegi very much,” says Capirossi. “The track isn’t particularly technical – just full throttle, brake, full throttle, brake. And all the hairpins make it very difficult for a rider to make a real difference over his rivals. But some sections are quite enjoyable. My favourite is under the bridge and then through the fast series of curves. I think the most important aspect of bike set-up is braking stability for all the hairpins. The bike gets better and better, so my current aim is to keep making progress, going for the best championship position and working to make sure we have an even better bike for next season.”

Loris’s third place of Motegi in 2002 was also the last time a two-stroke 500cc GP bike scored a podium finish.

BAYLISS RETURNS TO MOTEGI WITH A POINT TO PROVE

Troy Bayliss is looking forward to riding Motegi, after enjoying his first visit to the track last year. Unfortunately the Ducati Marlboro Team rider’s race ended after a few hundred metres, when he was taken out by another rider. So like team-mate Capirossi, the Aussie is also hoping for some help from Lady Luck at Motegi.

“I enjoyed riding the track last year,” says Bayliss. “But we didn’t really get things so good for the race, then I got taken out at the first corner, which was a bit of a bummer. Overall it wasn’t a great weekend, so hopefully we’ll have a better weekend this time around. It’s a pretty straightforward kind of a track. What you really need is good braking stability into all the hairpins because you can make up a lot of time on the brakes. And you need good low-gear acceleration and traction for the hairpin exits. We’ve had a couple of good results this year – Mugello and Donington – and we’ve made some pretty good progress, but it’s also been a bit frustrating at times. But all you can do is keep working at it.”

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. It’s not so popular with many MotoGP riders because they feel the track’s uninspiring layout doesn’t test their riding skills to the limit. On a positive note, the track is grippy, smooth and pretty safe. The venue hosted its inaugural Grand Prix, the Japanese GP, in 1999. Over the past four years Motegi’s world round has been called the Pacific GP, but this time the track once again hosts the country’s national GP.

The circuit, christened Twin Ring Motegi because it features both a Grand Prix track and an Indy oval, is one of the newer circuits on the GP calendar. 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.

MOTEGI DATA

Twin Ring Motegi: 4.801km, 2.983 miles
Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Honda), 1:48.885
Pole position 2003: Max Biaggi (Honda), 1:47.696

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER 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: 211 (41xMotoGP, 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 2003 results: Grid: 6th. Race: 8th

TROY BAYLISS
Age: 35 (March 30, 1969)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4
First GP: Australia, 1997 (250)
GP starts: 28 (27xMotoGP, 1×250)
World Superbike victories: 22
World Championships: 1 (Superbike: 2001)
Motegi 2003 results: Grid: 10th. Race: DNF