From a slew of press releases issued by Honda and various Honda teams:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Italian Grand Prix at Mugello
6/7/8 June 2003.

GIBERNAU TITLE CHALLENGE IN FULL FLOW

After his second breathtaking win of 2003 at Le Mans in France two weeks ago, Spanish rider Sete Gibernau’s challenge to the reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi is gaining momentum as the season unfolds at the glorious Mugello facility in Italy’s Tuscan Hills this weekend. And a massive raceday crowd of up to 70,000 is expected to throng the circuit.

Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V) leads the Championship after four of the 16 rounds with 90 points accumulated, while his fierce rival Max Biaggi (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) lies only 23 points behind on 67. Then it’s Gibernau only four points behind the two Italians after his two wins this season. Rossi has also won twice so far.

Gibernau was forced to retire from last year’s race when his Suzuki’s brakes gave problems but now the experienced rider is getting to grips with his Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V and he knows he has a machine that is a consistent winner in the right hands.

The 5.245km Mugello track is set deep into a natural lie of rolling hills and has everything a track needs to promote close and spectacular racing: a long straight to allow slipstreaming and a wide variety of fast and slow turns with tricky cambers to test every area of both rider and machine performance.

The track is fast and flowing, and favours machines with a balance of power and poise under downhill braking and through the turns. And Tohru Ukawa (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) who finished third last year set the highest maximum speed at a blistering 322.2km/h and he and team-mate Biaggi are in a prime position to bag a first win of the season.

Last year’s winner Rossi knows that he faces a stiff challenge from many fronts at his home Grand Prix. The two times MotoGP Champion is gunning for his third successive title and acknowledges the importance of a strong domestic result as well as the knowledge that a win represents another 25 points that will be crucial in what is shaping up to be a tight Championship.

“Mugello has extra importance because it is in Italy,” he said. “But in another way it is just another 25 points – the same as any other race. Of course there is more pressure because of my family being local, because of the fans and all of those things. But I always have to think more in terms of the Championship than just one race.”

Rossi currently holds the circuit record for the fastest ever lap of the undulating Tuscan track at 1m 51.258 seconds while Tohru Ukawa holds the race lap record at 1:52.601. Mugello’s 1.14km uphill straight holds the key to part of those times while the tricky right turn at the end of that straight is also a large part of unlocking a quick lap here.

Max Biaggi who finished second to Rossi here last year has been devastatingly consistent so far this year and Mugello could be the springboard he needs to post a first victory of the year to close the gap on Rossi at the top of the table.

And as ever the Roman is relishing the challenge. “Racing at Mugello is fantastic,” he said. “If I could, I would like to do two races there every season. Not just because the track is one of my favourites but because the atmosphere, my fans, the language – everything is familiar to me. You always feel an extra need to do well there. I forecast three Italians on the podium – but not the finishing order!”

Camel Pramac Pons team rider Tohru Ukawa knows he really needs to get into Championship contention here after finding it hard to get into a race rhythm in the rounds contested so far. But the determined Japanese knows what it takes to squeeze maximum speed from his Honda RC211V and will be giving it his all.

“I hope we’ll get better weather than in Le Mans, which made things difficult, but I’m not here to wonder about the weather,” he said. “I’m ready to make the most of this opportunity to make up ground and I know that if I can get settled with machine set-up early on then I will be in a strong position to make a challenge. As ever my determination will not be in any doubt.”

But the man with the momentum at the minute is undoubtedly Gibernau who rolls into Mugello on a high after fending off a fierce Rossi challenge in a thrilling race in France. With two wins so far this year, he knows that he’s in a strong position to take the initiative here this weekend.

“We go to Mugello now where a hard race awaits me, the Italians will give everything at their home race. Maybe my target has to be a little lower but a place on the podium is my aim. After the race at Le Mans we stayed on for a Michelin tyre test and we did a good job. We go to Mugello in good shape ready to wrestle with the ‘Owners’ (Rossi-Biaggi-Capirossi),” he said

Rossi’s team-mate Nicky Hayden’s rollercoaster baptism into the world of MotoGP continues apace with his initiation into the rolling gradients and tough off-cambers of Mugello, but as ever the American’s optimism, willingness to listen and learn, and his utter determination to succeed are likely to pay off here.

“Man, I’ve never even been to Italy before,” he said. “But I’ve heard some really nice things about the place. The track sound really awesome and I’ve heard the crowd is massive and really into its racing. Like every race this year, I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve just got to get out there and learn it. I’ve also got some family coming over and they’ll be staying until Barcelona, so that’ll be good, too.”

Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda RC211V) is making huge progress with Bridgestone tyres and will be hoping to repeat his Jerez result of last month when he stormed to sixth in only his third ever MotoGP race. “I said before Le Mans we shouldn’t get too carried away,” said the Japanese. “But Mugello gives us another chance to measure our progress as a team and I’m really looking forward to riding here.”

Rookie Ryuichi Kiyonari (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) is another rider on a steep learning curve after joining the team at Jerez and riding his first MotoGP race at Le Mans.

Kiyonari said of his new career in MotoGP. “Little by little I’m adapting to the new circumstances I’m living in right now. Europe, the championship, the tracks, food, everything is new to me. I’m lucky to have a place in a great team where everyone is helping me, making me feel at home. In France I earned my first MotoGP points but I know I have to do many, many kilometers to learn all about the RCV too. In Mugello I will carry on learning, and I hope to score points in the race.”

The 250cc category is typically tight and Honda hotshot Roberto Rolfo (Fortuna Honda RS250RW) will be going all out for his first win in the class at his home Grand Prix. The Italian currently lies fourth in the World Championship standings a mere seven points behind the leader. A win could easily catapult him to the top of the standings and his determination is measured but intense.

“First we have to do the groundwork in set-up,” he said. “And we are learning more all the time and also finding solutions that we maybe struggled with earlier in the season. This is a big opportunity for the team to make another big step forward and I don’t have to tell you how important it is being at Mugello and knowing we have a really good opportunity to do well.”

Sebastian Porto Sebastian Porto (Telefonica MoviStar Honda Junior Team RS250RW) is eager to make up the points difference on the title leaders. Porto was the innocent victim of a Le Mans collision with Manuel Poggiali but will arrive at Mugello refreshed following a break at home in Argentina.

“After the race at Le Mans I went back to Argentina to recuperate from the two crashes I’ve had recently. Spending some time with my friends and family and relaxing. I’m looking forward to the race. The bike is getting better with each race, it steers really well but we need a little more power off the corners.” Commented Porto.

The 125cc category is headed by Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica MoviStar Honda Junior Team RS125R) and the Spanish rider is ready to try and extend his five-point lead over second-placed Lucio Cecchinello (Aprilia) in the Italian factory’s backyard.

Pedrosa said. “Mugello is a complicated track. The slipstream is very important at that circuit, as there will be many riders in the lead group. I’m very motivated, even if it’s a circuit I have never loved. I’m in good form now so I’m ready to change my mind about how I feel about the track.”

The other Honda contenders in the quarter-litre category share either vast experience of the track in the shape of Masao Azuma (Ajo Motorsports Honda RS125R) who visits the track for the eighth time or are raw first-timers here like Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R).

Luthi is perfectly open about the challenge he faces, “I have never been to Mugello, not even for a test,” he said. “I have studied it on Play Station, and watched many videos of previous races. I think I will like it, it looks very exciting.”

While the wily contender Azuma knows all the challenges he faces. “Mugello is a circuit that is sometimes good for me, and sometimes like last year, bad,” he said. “It’s a high speed track and you need to have good acceleration in all six gears. Right now we need a little more help with third-to-sixth-gear acceleration. But we have to wait until practice to see what it holds for me this year.”



PRAMAC RACING PREVIEW

MotoGP – Round 5 – Italian Grand Prix

International motor-racing circuit of Mugello – 6/7/8 June 2003

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX, FIFTH ROUND OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AT MUGELLO

Built in 1974, the Mugello International Racetrack hosted the first motorcycling Grand Prix in 1976. A modern, technical circuit with unique characteristics, where fast curves are followed by sharp corners that are difficult to negotiate, following the rises and falls in one of the finest tracks of the entire world championship. A splendid design created by a series of technical corners is followed by the impressive and long home straight that rises slightly towards the end and where today’s motorcycles reach breathtaking speeds.


The Mugello facilities, owned by Ferrari, who have made it the leading test track for F1, also have exceptional characteristics for Grand Prix motorbikes. It is of enormous value for Italian riders and manufacturers, for this is their “home” race, the number one sports arena. All this against the unique backdrop of huge and enthusiastic public. The hills of Tuscany, in which the circuit is located, are the venue for a staggering number of fans. In terms of colour, sound and “warmth”, it may well be considered as the most important event in the entire championship.


THE PRAMAC HILL

Many of the people who will crowd on to the Mugello hills will be thoroughbred Tuscans. For 200 employees at its Tuscany headquarters, Pramac Group has organised a trip to the international motor racing circuit of Mugello so they can have a live view of the Italian Grand Prix. With their red and white flags, the Pramac people will create the first “Pramac Hill” in history.

The circuit:
5,245 metres
left-handers: 6
right-handers: 9
longest straight: 1,141 metres
Maximum width: 14 metres
Year of construction: 1974.


Winners in 2002.
125 class: Poggiali (RSM) Gilera
250 Class: Melandri (ITA) Aprilia
MotoGP Class: Rossi (ITA) Honda.


Circuit records.
125: Cecchinello 1:59.181 (2002)
250: Nakano 1:54.462 (2000)
MotoGP: Ukawa 1:52.601 (2002).



FIRST PRAMAC CUP CONTEST

The first four-team 5-a-side Pramac Cup soccer tournament will take place on Thursday 5 June. The teams will be made up of riders, press journalists, TV journalists, and Riders for Health supporters. Together with the typical spirit of competition in a soccer tournament, this year’s Pramac Cup will aim to provide tangible assistance to the Riders humanitarian association. For each goal scored during this first Pramac Cup, the Group will donate to the association. The matches will be played out on a special soccer pitch provided by Diadora, a partner of Pramac, and the starting whistle will be blown by a celebrity in the world of soccer: World Cup referee Pierluigi Collina. Riders and journalists, however, are going to find themselves up against a team of supporters of the Riders for Health association who are currently trying to earn themselves a place in the team by taking part in the charity auction for Riders on the famous eBay site:


http://members.ebay.it/aboutme/riders_for_health

MAX BIAGGI AND CAMEL PRAMAC PONS TEAM FIRMLY IN SECOND PLACE IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP


After finishing the first three races on the podium, many-times world champion Max Biaggi ended the race at Le Mans in fifth place. This gave him and the Camel Pramac Pons Team the points they needed to stay firmly in second place in the riders’ ratings and in the special teams classification of the 2003 MotoGP World Championship. Massimiliano is now 23 points from the leader, a distance that need not be too difficult to bridge since the championship still has a long way to go and the central – “European” – stage has only just begun. Torhu Ukawa, Max Biaggi’s team-mate, came seventh in the Le Mans race, thus putting himself into sixth place in the overall ratings. The race in France, which was stopped by rain, was by no means simple and, for the first time, the new rules for stopping the race in the case of adverse weather conditions were applied. The second time round, the race started all over again for the remaining 13 laps and it was the final result of this that decided the final ratings, cancelling everything that had been done until the race had been stopped.


MAKOTO TAMADA AND PRAMAC HONDA TEAM PREPARE FOR “HOME” RACE.


For the great Japanese and for the Pramac Honda Team, Mugello can be considered as the “home” race. The team is based at Casole d’Elsa in Tuscany, and the ace from Shikoku Island has been living for about a month now in the Tuscan hills near the Pramac headquarters. Makoto started Italian lessons a couple of days ago, mainly so that he will be able to communicate freely with the majority of his team who do not speak Japanese. This is how he is looking forward to this important appointment at Mugello:


“I don’t feel I’m under particular pressure for the Mugello race. Everything’s new for me here. Like so many of the others this season, Mugello is a circuit I’ll be seeing for the first time. So my approach is going to be similar for all the other ones I don’t know yet. I can’t deny that, since this is the home race for Pramac and for all my team, we’re coming up to a very important weekend: I know I’m going to have all eyes on my results, and that hopes are high. I want to do well, so as always I’ve spent hours and hours in front of the TV watching last year’s race over and over again. The circuit looks very technical to me and also very tough for getting the set-up of the bike right. It’s going to be crucial to get the settings perfect if I’m going to have the rideability I need to negotiate the key points of the track in the best possible way. As always, we’ll have very little time, but the challenge we’re taking up is precisely that of being able to get the best results in the shortest possible time. We’ll see: on Friday I’ll already have an idea of what strategy we need to adopt. The Italian lessons… I must say it’s hard to concentrate fully, as my mind’s totally focused on the Italian Grand Prix.”


HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Japanese Talent joins forces with Italian Passion

The partnership between Japanese star Makoto Tamada and Pramac Group S.p.A, the Italian power product producer, to race in the 2003 MotoGP World Championship was viewed as unusual blend of talents when announced.

The newly formed partnership, however, was rich with promise following pre-season testing and is now beginning to establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in the senior class of grand prix racing.

The 26-year old from Shikoku Island, Japan, has quickly found his feet in the torrid world of MotoGP racing, despite having chosen the unusual route of signing to race for an Italian team, without being able to speak one word of Italian. A bold move for any non-Italian, let alone a Japanese. Tamada, however, is a one off, almost a throw back of the old school of racing characters.

The quietly confident, good-humoured, and very fast rider has already shown he belongs among motorcycle racing’s elite group. Following a solid grounding in All Japan 250cc Championship racing, and four years as an official HRC Superbike rider, Tamada had everything he needed to make the switch to two-wheeled racing’s Blue Riband class.

Tamada first came to world recognition in 2001 when he won both races at the Japanese round of the World Superbike Championship, at Sugo. He went on to score a one – two finish at the same event a year later. That year he also finished second in the ‘Suzuka 8 Hours,’ racing with his friend, and team manager at the time, Tadayuki Okada.

Tamada and Pramac Honda have grown together in the short period between their first meeting, pre-season testing at Sepang in January (20) and today. The successful blending of Japanese racing talent and Italian passion has much to do with Tamada’s laid back personality and the vast experience of the key members of the Pramac team staff.

Tamada said of his new team: “What I have experienced so far I like very much. I’m used to working for HRC in an all Japanese environment, in the Japanese way. In Europe I work with Japanese and Italian technicians and team staff and it’s very professional. I am working with a group of very good people and I have a very positive feeling.”

In fact the Japanese star has drawn confidence from his new environment. Jerez was a real culture shock but gave Tamada great energy. “Jerez was a fantastic experience for me. The huge crowd, the entire atmosphere they created – I got a lot of positive energy from the whole event. More an injection of energy to push you on, ready to do it for those people. It was great.

“Of course my first impression of European race was gained at Jerez. If I make an analysis of my race, I was in fourth place at one time, which was good. The beginning of the race was hard, I had to speak to myself and get going, I had a lot to do. Racing with Barros and Ukawa San was good. But at the end of the race when I saw how far ahead of me Valentino was, I realised just how hard I have to work if I am to get to the top.” Said Tamada.

The fun loving Tamada has yet to find enough free time in his hectic schedule to enjoy the sights and scenes of his temporary home, or Europe in general.

“I must admit that I have not had enough time to mix socially. I live on top of a hill in Casole dÉlse, Toscana, and haven’t even had the time to jump into the car and go down into Fierenze. We had a short time in Barcelona, and last week I saw a little of Paris, but not long enough. I have to say it’s all very exciting. The local people in Casole know I’m a racer and give me a wave when I pass, particularly the police. They stop me just to say hello! Soon I will be able to speak to them, I hope. I am learning to speak Italian. One of the girls in the Pramac office is learning Japanese, so we work together on both languages.”

Tamada is here to race and he has adapted to the RC211V very quickly following his four-year stint on Superbikes. For a MotoGP rookie his lap times, at the tracks he has visited for the first time have been more than respectable. At Jerez, exceptional.

“The feeling I have with the RCV now is totally different from when I first tested with the team in Malaysia. Then it was, ‘Oh, it’s an RCV,’ now the feeling is quite normal when I ride it, the relationship is very good. The bike is no way like a Superbike. You have to be very careful how you use the power of the RCV, the wheel spin is incredible, and not just in low gears but in the mid-range. You have to be very delicate on the throttle, whereas you can be hard on the throttle with a Superbike.” Commented Tamada.

He went on to say. “There is a very big difference in what I’m doing this year from racing Superbikes. I have to learn the MotoGP tracks, learn and develop the RCV and also the Bridgestone tyres. I never raced a 500 at this level so it would be difficult to compare, everybody talks about them, I do wish I had raced an NSR500.”

Pramac Honda and Tamada are putting in a huge effort to improve the Bridgestone tyres they race with and Tamada is confident they are the tyres of the future. “The tyres are improving all the time, you can see that in the results. We have many choices of tyres, at all tracks. Any kind of development you work on is really the same. You find the solutions you need by testing everything you have available. If it doesn’t work you have to develop something that does, and I’m confident Bridgestone can do that. I’m happy with the work we are doing with Bridgestone.

“We got our choice of tyres wrong for the wet race at Le Mans, we changed the rear tyre from a wet for an intermediate after the wet warm up. Even after the warm up laps I thought I had got it right but I hit a puddle early in the race and went down. I will not make the same mistake again once I have more experience on the RCV.” Concluded Tamada.

Tamada’s next race is the big one for Pramac Honda, the Italian Grand Prix, at Mugello. The team’s home race. But the genial Japanese rider will not be overawed by the additional pressure of Mugello, or the need to do well on home ground.

“No I will not feel any pressure at Mugello, even if I race for an Italian team with Italian sponsors. I raced for HRC in Japan. The rhythm of work was rigid, I’m used to the pressure,” said Tamada. “I’m looking forward to Mugello, it’s a race I have to ride, and I’m ready because I have heard so much about it from my friends and my team.”

Pramac Honda Press Officer Michele Morisetti gave an insight to Tamada’s character as a racer. “Tamada learns very quickly, he will study videos of the previous races at the track we will race at next, sometimes for hours. At work Tamada works very hard but when work is over he likes to spend his free time having fun. He’s a man who has the life he dreamed of and is prepared to work very hard at making a success of it.

Morisetti went on to say. “Tamada San is the first rider I ever saw in my life with such an easy approach to his racing, it’s so natural to him. I have never seen a hint of stress in his eyes, never. We didn’t realise how difficult it was for him to carry on after the death of Daijiro (Kato), his best friend. He just got on with the job, he showed nothing to us, that shows his character. We only realised how difficult it was for him during the one-minute silence in Welkom. He stood and cried quietly for five minutes, then got on the bike and raced. There was no outpouring of emotion, apart from that.

“The culture gap is also closing, both nationalities warming to each other, developing a tight knit atmosphere within the team, and improved performances each time Tamada rides the RC211V. At the end of the race at Jerez he came into the garage and the entire team, fifteen people, from the owner to the truck driver stood and applauded his race. Tamada looked a little confused, and very moved by the reception he received, so I clapped him on the back and said ‘Welcome to Italy.’ I think he understands us a bit better after that. That is one of the biggest differences in us culturally.” Morisetti concluded.