Marlboro Ducati Previews The British Grand Prix

Marlboro Ducati Previews The British Grand Prix

© 2005, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM IN POSITIVE MOOD AS MotoGP RETURNS TO EUROPE Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa return to Europe for the British GP after their Wild West adventure at Laguna Seca. The pair had a tough time at the American track but are looking forward to returning to a venue they know much better. Donington Park is MotoGP’s split-personality circuit, with two highly contrasting sections flowing across gently undulating countryside in the former grounds of an aristocratic mansion. This is the 19th consecutive year that the Leicestershire venue has hosted the British motorcycle Grand Prix. “Our riders and the whole team are very motivated as we go into the British GP and the second half of the season,” says Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. “We know Bridgestone are working very hard, so we’re feeling quite positive about the future. Laguna wasn’t that good in terms of results but our actual performance was much better than it had been at the previous two races where we really struggled, so we’re hoping we can have a good weekend at Donington.” Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli understands the challenge of Donington better than most. “It is a two-character track, with a very fast section and a very slow section, with maybe the slowest corners in MotoGP,” he says. “This contrast is what makes Donington so unusual, plus the particularly heavy braking demands which require a peculiar front-end set-up. You need to choose a hard front tyre and stiff front springs, which can obviously compromise performance in other parts of the circuit. Plus there’s so little time for the brakes to cool between the slow corners that things could get difficult if the weather is hot.” After Sunday’s racing the MotoGP circus hastens to the Sachsenring for the German GP on July 31 before commencing its four-week summer recess. CAPIROSSI: ‘YOU NEED TO BE BRAVE’ Ducati Marlboro Team man Loris Capirossi is looking forward to a weekend of trouble-free action at Donington after coming down with gastroenteritis at the US GP earlier this month. The Italian always looks forward to the British GP because he scored his first world-class victory at Donington in August 1990, winning the 125 GP at the age of just 17. “I love this track so much, it’s one of my favourites,” says Capirossi, who qualified on the front row at Donington last year. “The fast part of the circuit is the best, from Redgate, all the way round to the back straight, though my favourite is down the hill through Craner. You need to be brave to be fast through there! I don’t like the last section so much, where it’s all slow, tight corners with hard braking and low-gear acceleration. This kind of layout is okay for 125s and 250s but it’s not so easy when you have so much horsepower.” CHECA ‘COMES HOME’ Carlos Checa may be Spanish but he is a British resident. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider currently resides in Westminster, London, close enough to the Houses of Parliament to get woken by the bells of Big Ben. “I like London a lot, especially the restaurants and the parks,” says Checa. “If it’s not raining I prefer to train outside, so I go running in Green Park, St James Park or Hyde Park. I also enjoy racing in the UK, the place has got so much racing history and the people have a lot of passion for motorsport. It’s great that MotoGP is finally becoming so popular in Britain. Donington is quite a strange circuit, with two very different parts. The first, from Redgate to the back straight, is fast and flowing, but the last part is stop and go, which isn’t so much fun. I’d like them to change that section and I’d also like them to build a new pits complex and new toilets!” THE TRACK Donington Park is very much a rider’s circuit, dominated by fast, sweeping corners that crucially interlink with each other. Through these sections a fluid riding style and high corner speed are much more important than brute horsepower. But just to complicate matters, the Melbourne loop section (added in 1986 to bring the venue up to minimum GP length) features three dead-stop turns where last-gasp braking and vicious acceleration are all-important. Getting a MotoGP machine to work through these two contrasting segments requires engineers to find a compromise in chassis settings. Donington has been hosting GPs since 1987, taking over from Silverstone, which became Britain’s World Championship venue after the notorious Isle of Man TT circuit was deemed too dangerous. Donington’s history as a racetrack goes back to 1931 when the owners of the nearby Donington mansion allowed the estate roads to be used for racing. The circuit was shut down during the Second World War and only re-opened in 1977 after extensive redevelopment by local businessman Tom Wheatcroft. The track was resurfaced for last year’s race. Lap record: Colin Edwards (Honda), 1m29.973s (160.968kmh/100.021mph) Pole position 2004: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1m28.720s 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: 224 (54xMotoGP, 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) Donington 2004 results: Grid: 3rd. Race: 7th 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: 176 (56xMotoGP, 92×500, 27×250, 1×125) Pole positions: 3 (2xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: Spain, 1998 (500) Donington 2004 results: Grid: 7th. Race: 6th.

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