FIM MotoGP World Championship Istanbul, Turkey April 28 Best Practice Times Through First Two Practice Sessions: 1. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, 1:53.623 2. Casey STONER, Honda, 1:53.861 3. Marco MELANDRI, Honda, 1:53.971 4. Dani PEDROSA, Honda, 1:54.001 5. Toni ELIAS, Honda, 1:54.022 6. Colin EDWARDS, Yamaha, 1:54.042 7. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, 1:54.055 8. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, 1:54.227 9. Sete GIBERNAU, Ducati, 1:54.279 10. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, 1:55.759 11. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:54.662 12. Chris VERMEULEN, Suzuki, 1:54.722 13. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, 1:54.967 14. Kenny Lee ROBERTS, Roberts/Honda, 1:55.179 15. Randy DE PUNIET, Kawasaki, 1:55.700 16. Carlos CHECA, Yamaha, 1:56.838 17. James ELLISON, Yamaha, 1:56.943 18. Alex HOFMANN, Ducati, 1:57.467 19. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Ducati, 1:58.007 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI CONFIDENT OF IMPROVEMENT IN TURKEY While Shinya Nakano was disappointed to finish today’s free practice ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Turkey down in 13th position, the Kawasaki rider remains confident that tomorrow will bring a significant improvement in his lap time. The traction problems that plagued Nakano during the Grand Prix of Qatar three weeks ago were again evident during both one-hour free practice sessions today, losing the Kawasaki rider vital fractions of a second at each corner. The 28-year-old Japanese star also had problems at some of the slower turns on the 5.340km Istanbul Park circuit, where he was finding it difficult to make quick changes of direction aboard his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR. Despite not finishing as far up the timesheet as he expected, Nakano remains confident that, together with his crew, he can find a solution to both problems ahead of tomorrow afternoons qualifying session. Like his Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet also found the fast changes of direction required at Istanbul, especially for the chicane complex at the end of the lap, a problem today. The 25-year-old Frenchman identified the final split as the place he was losing most time on each lap, and this is where the efforts of de Puniet and his crew were focussed during this afternoon’s free practice session. The Kawasaki rider made a number of changes to the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR, whilst also trying different lines through the final chicane, but to no avail, with the result that he ended today down in 15th place on the timesheet. De Puniet will head out for tomorrows final free practice session with a clear goal; to improve his speed through the Istanbul Park circuit’s slower turns and to close to within one second of the leading riders. Shinya Nakano: 13th – 1’55.803 “We have similar problem here as we had in Qatar in that I’m losing time accelerating out of the turns, especially the slow corners. I just can’t seem to find traction at the rear. I can match everyone else down the straights and on the brakes, but I lose ground as soon as we’re out of the turn and back on the gas. We also have some issues with getting the bike turned, which is again more noticeable around the slower corners. We need to look a little more closely at the set-up of both the chassis and the engine tonight to try and alleviate these problems ready for tomorrow. I’m enjoying being back on the bike, I like racing at this circuit, and I’m confident we can improve during tomorrows practice and qualifying sessions.” Randy de Puniet: 15th – 1’56.959 “Although the lap time isn’t what I was hoping for, today has not been so bad for me. My main problem is the fact that I’m losing so much time through the last split, especially around the chicane complex right at the end of the lap. We tried a few changes with the bike this afternoon, and I’ve tried a few different lines through these slow turns, but we’ve yet to see an improvement. We will concentrate on this again tomorrow, when my target is to close to within one second of the leading riders.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “While our Ninja ZX-RR is very stable on the brakes going into the turns, it seems that both riders are experiencing problems with the quick changes of direction required for some of the slower corners here in Istanbul. Tomorrow we need to look at our set-up, and the possibility of maybe compromising some of this stability in order to make the bike more agile through the turns.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: DUCATI MEN MAKE PROMISING START Ducati riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau got their Turkish GP weekend underway with promising first-day performances at Istanbul Park, placing seventh and ninth fastest, just a few tenths off provisional ‘pole position’. In cool, overcast conditions the pair began laying the groundwork for Sunday’s race, round three of the 17-event World Championship, by working on machine balance for this fast, undulating and challenging racetrack. Capirossi, making his first appearance here after missing last year’s inaugural Turkish GP through injury, ended the two sessions just 0.432 seconds down on fastest man Nicky Hayden, while Gibernau was only 0.656 seconds down, riding the Desmosedici GP6 for the first time at Istanbul. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 7th fastest, 1m 54.055s “I’m happy. This is my first time here but my team and my engineers gave me telemetry from last year which I studied at home, so I just had to learn where to put my wheels. It’s a nice track, very up and down and with many changes of direction where the track suddenly drops away. It looked easy on paper but in reality it’s more complicated! Anyway, I like it and quickly got into it. We already made some setting changes and tried some tyres. Tomorrow we’ll keep on working and, of course, I can improve. It’s impossible to learn the track well enough in two hours to be fastest. “The tarmac is quite slippery, so we are working hard with Bridgestone and hoping it won’t rain tomorrow because that will make things very hard for us if it’s dry on Sunday. I’m very close to the front, one tenth faster and I’d be third, I lost some time going into the last turn a bit too fast. Anyway, I’m happy and I’m convinced we can be competitive on Sunday. “Before coming here I thought the first and the third corners would be the most difficult, I was wrong about the first but the third, which comes after a fast right, where you need to change direction while going down a steep hill, really is hard. The most difficult point is the triple lefthander, it’s bumpy and so fast that’s easy to make a mistake and lose half a second.” SETE GIBERNAU, 9th fastest, 1m 54.279s “That wasn’t so bad, we’re all very close, mostly within half a second. We’re trying to find a good balance and I think everyone in the team, at Ducati and at Bridgestone has done a good job today. We’re fast in some sections, we’re just losing a bit in the areas where there’s hard braking. We tried two different directions today and I think we’ve now found a good direction, so all we need to do is put everything together and get out there and do some laps. But it looks like there could be some rain tomorrow, so that could make it difficult for everyone because we definitely need more dry laps.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: The second ever Grand Prix of Turkey got underway at the Istanbul Park circuit today, under comfortable conditions despite some thin cloud in the skies. American youngster Nicky Hayden, currently second in the championship and on a fabulous run of six podium finishes, ended the day as fastest out on track after the two hour-long free practice sessions. Hayden led a Honda charge, with a 1’53.623 lap of Istanbul putting him at the head of a five-rider group of young riders for the Japanese factory. Second in the standings was Australian Casey Stoner, who suffered a late crash in the second session after heading the first. The 20 year-old only completed 10 laps in the afternoon practice, but managed to walk away unscathed from his front-end spill at the end of the back straight. Last year’s MotoGP race winner Marco Melandri was hot on the heels of 2005’s 250cc winner Stoner, and finished ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Toni Elias. With all the front five runners under 24 years of age, the more experienced in the pack will have to up their game to challenge for honours this weekend. Yamaha’s Colin Edwards came in sixth as the fastest non-Honda rider, with World Championship leader Loris Capirossi close behind on his Ducati. John Hopkins, Sete Gibernau and Makoto Tamada completed a top ten which was only split by eight tenths of a second. Reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi dropped to eleventh as he had two worrying moments during the session, both times running wide at the end of the back straight. Meanwhile Australian Chris Vermeulen experienced another setback when his GSV-R had a technical problem in the final minutes. Light rain is forecast for sometime during the day tomorrow, with the MotoGP riders hoping that their afternoon qualifying session, which begins at 2pm local time, will not be affected by the showers. More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: CONSISTENT DISPLAY FROM FORTUNA HONDA RIDERS ON FIRST DAY OF QUALIFYING Marco is on the provisional front row whilst team-mate Toni Elias makes the second row, just four tenths behind pole position. The FORTUNA HONDA riders put in a solid showing on the first day of qualifying at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix that took place in fine conditions at the Istanbul Park circuit. After a superb performance last season, Marco Melandri took an impressive victory at this circuit 12 months ago. The Italian rider started this season in good style also as he lapped consistently throughout the day to post the third best time. Team-mate Toni Elias was just 4 tenths of the fastest time of the day set by American Nicky Hayden. Toni spent long periods of this first session looking for the best set-up for his bike. The Spanish rider did a fine job and, like Melandri, lapped in consistent style. MARCO MELANDRI (1’53″971, 3rd): “I am very happy. I have finally rediscovered my feeling with the bike and am enjoying myself again. The test in Qatar allowed us to find a good base to work from which has really helped us. I like the Turkish circuit and feel comfortable here although there is still room for us to improve. I have found a good rhythm but still have to improve on coming out of the corners where I’m lacking a bit of traction. Tomorrow, depending on conditions, we will try some different Michelin tyres with a view to Sunday’s race.” TONI ELIAS (1’54″022, 5th ): “I am satisfied with our work today. We made some small changes to the set-up we found in Qatar and they worked perfectly. In the morning the track was really dirty and so we made the changes in the afternoon. I had a good rhythm throughout the day and am just 0.39 seconds behind the leading Honda of Nicky Hayden. I hope to learn from the first two races of the season and put in a good showing here.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: TRICKY FIRST DAY FOR CAMEL YAMAHA IN ISTANBUL Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards spent the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey gathering important set-up data after encountering different track conditions to those they enjoyed here season. With this year’s event taking place some six months earlier than the inaugural race here last October, overcast skies contributed to cool ambient temperatures of 20ºC and produced low grip levels on track, where Nicky Hayden (Honda) set the free practice pace with a best lap of 1’53.623. Rossi adapted swiftly to the conditions in the morning and set the third fastest time of the opening practice, but he struggled to make any significant improvements in the afternoon and ended up eleventh on the overall time sheets. Edwards, meanwhile, was sixth fastest in both sessions improving his lap time in the afternoon by 1.4 seconds. With plenty of work still to do the only worry for the riders now is the threat of rain, with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and local forecasts predicting a downfall tomorrow. COLIN EDWARDS (6th, 1’54.042, 38 laps) “We started out with the base setting from Qatar but it didn’t work very well for us here. Basically we then decided to go with a newer front tyre than the one we’ve been using in testing and it went much better. Combined with a few tweaks to the suspension I built up my confidence in the front and I was able to lay down some good lap times. In the end we put a pretty consistent run together and I’m happy. We’re still getting some vibrations but it’s only in a couple of corners and we can work around them with more time on the bike tomorrow; hopefully it will stay dry. The track was really dirty this morning but it started to clean up in the afternoon. If it stays dry then the grip should improve as the weekend goes on, but they’re saying it might rain so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” VALENTINO ROSSI (11th, 1’54.662, 43 laps) “This morning we were fast straight away and this was quite encouraging. We were third and we thought that we would be able to continue in this way during the afternoon. However we made some modifications in order to improve the acceleration and unfortunately we lost a lot of grip in braking. In fact our lap times were more or less the same in the afternoon but the track was about half a second faster this morning it was quite dirty and now we are in 11th place. I am a bit worried but also quite positive because we made some changes at the end of the session, back towards this morning’s settings, and we improved a lot and set our fastest lap of the day. So far we don’t have any vibration and so we hope that it won’t appear tomorrow if the grip improves.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “In the morning things went well for Valentino and in the afternoon they went well for Colin so you could say we had a balanced day! The good news is that we have been able to work as we would on a normal weekend, without the distractions caused by the problems we experienced in the first race. We collected a lot of good information today that we can put to use tomorrow and find a way forward with the set-up of the bikes. The only question mark is the rain so the only thing we ask for is at least a few dry laps so that we can evaluate the solutions we come up with tonight. Valentino lost his feeling a little bit this afternoon but we will compare the data from the whole day and find the best way to work tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP makes first day progress at Istanbul Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins finished in a promising eighth place after today’s free practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey in Istanbul. Hopkins (1’54.227, 41 laps) worked hard with his team to get the best out of his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R and Bridgestone tyres, and was pleased with the overall improvements made to the bike since the last race. He is sure that he can develop on today’s strong start during tomorrow’s practice and qualifying. Chris Vermeulen (1’54.722, 36 laps) also made a good opening to the weekend and was equally satisfied with his progress today. The rookie Australian was well inside the top 10 during the afternoon session before finishing in 12th place overall. Today’s practice was held in dry and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching a high of 20°c and the track surface 27°c. The quickest time was set Nicky Hayden with World Champion Valentino Rossi down in 11th position. Tomorrow will see Rizla Suzuki MotoGP take to the track for the final practice session and then compete in the all important qualifying session in the afternoon. Sunday’s 22-lap race will begin at 15.00hrs local time (14.00hrs CET). John Hopkins: “It’s been the best start to a race weekend that we have had this year. We got a lot done on race tyres today to get the right selection for Sunday. Suzuki has made some changes to the bike to improve durability and that has also been very noticeable. We are putting a lot of laps in to test out the new parts and the tyres and the crew has worked really hard today to make sure everything went well. We will now see what the weather does tomorrow as rain has been forecast, but either way we will get the best out of both sessions that’s for sure.” Chris Vermeulen: “We made a lot of progress today which was good. The guys worked really hard especially in the second session and we made a lot of changes to the set-up, all of which seemed to work well. I was happy with the way things went today, we tried a lot of different tyres and other changes to the bike which all seemed like they would work well over race distance. Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the end of the second session, as I’m sure I would have been further up the timesheets but that doesn’t really matter until tomorrow and more importantly Sunday.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We came here with the hope of having a solid first day and that is exactly what we have managed to do. Both riders have made a lot of progress and we have been trying to get the best out of the machine and the Bridgestone tyres. To take a small step in performance with the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R is maybe possible tomorrow but what will help us in the race is to improve our consistency and make the bike more rideable when grip reduces. We are chasing grip in partnership with Bridgestone and that is certainly one of our biggest tasks this weekend. Whilst we are always after more performance, the GSV-Rs are running strongly and both the guys are very enthusiastic about further improvements tomorrow.”