From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

French Grand Prix at Le Mans
May 23/24/25 2003

ROSSI LEADS MotoGP PACK TO LE MANS

As the momentum of the European based MotoGP races accelerates to the second level at the Le Mans circuit this weekend, world championship leader Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V), and a strong list of his fellow Honda entrants, approach the race with understandably high levels of confidence.

Recent events have given the 2003 MotoGP season an enhanced sense of purpose and focus and after the biggest trackside spectator festival of the season at a flowing and rhythmical Jerez, Le Mans presents an altogether different obstacle. Tight and twisty, with many stop-go corners, Le Mans is a favourite of few, but the same challenge for all.

Honda men pack the top ten in this year’s championship standings, even after only three of 16 races. Rossi, something of a modern day racing phenomenon, carries the highest points haul so far, leading Max Biaggi (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) 70 to 56. Neither rider has been off the podium yet, with Rossi winning at Suzuka and Jerez, while fourth place rider overall, Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V), took an emotional win at Welkom in South Africa in round two.

Le Mans hosts the French GP for the 15th time, having shared the event over the years with seven other circuits. In last year’s MotoGP race rain brought about a premature finish after 21 of a scheduled 28 laps and thus delivered the win to Rossi. Despite this success the 2002 World Champion does not rate the slow sections and tight corners of the Bugatti circuit, a very much shorter 4.18km version of the classic 24-Hour car racing loop. “It’s good to be where we are after three races, especially before Le Mans – which is not my favourite track – in fact I don’t really like it that much at all,” admitted Rossi. ” I won there last year, but that was mainly because I managed to get to the front and then the rain fell and they stopped the race, which was lucky for me.”

Despite Rossi’s great start to the season, realism shines through in his thoughts about how tough this year’s competition is. “The team is working well and the bike feels good, but there are many competitive riders and machines,” acknowledged Rossi. “Things never get easier and we have to keep up the pressure on them all from the front – the championship is a long one and we have only just begun to see what might happen.” With a lack of testing opportunities at the Le Mans track, most riders will nevertheless have access to data from last year’s race, held during the first season of MotoGP’s return to a four-stroke formula. Many Honda riders this year are nonetheless sampling the delights of the championship-winning RC211V V5 for the first time.

One such rider who has not had the luxury of previous Le Mans experience on the V5 is Biaggi. Despite this fact the Italian has finished inside the top three after all qualifying and race situations thus far. “The team is working really well and we’ll need to keep the pressure on at Le Mans,” said Biaggi. “We haven’t been there with this bike, but the more we work together the more we learn. I think we’ll make even more progress there.”

Sete Gibernau’s win at Welkom was followed by a fall at his home race in Jerez, however the tough Spaniard is already looking for ways to get back to the top of the podium. “We weighted the front of the bike more in Jerez and that made it harder to turn, so we’ll be working more on that at Le Mans,” quoted the Catalan rider. ” I still have to adapt to the new bike and the more I ride it the better it gets.”

Tohru Ukawa (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) has not enjoyed the same lightning start he made to the 2002 season, and is looking for his first podium score. “I’m gradually getting better after a slow start to the season,” confirmed Ukawa. “The testing in Jerez helped and I think I can be on the pace from the start in France. I’ve got to sort my early laps out and go fast right from the beginning and if I can do that then I’ll be trying my best for a podium at Le Mans.”

Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) has enjoyed and endured the highs and lows expected in any rider’s rookie season, especially in this class of racing. His willingness to learn and positive attitude towards the task have made a big impression in MotoGP, earned him eighth overall so far, and his natural enthusiasm shines through in his pre-race comments. “I can’t wait to get to Le Mans after a hard weekend in Spain and I’m just really looking forward to getting back on the bike,” stated the 2002 AMA Superbike Champion. “I haven’t been able to train as much as I’d like over the last weeks because my foot is still banged up a bit, but it’s all getting better and I’m sure it will be no problem at the race.”

Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda RC 211V) has been impressive on Bridgestone tyres this season and is another MotoGP rookie making a good transition to the premier class of world motorcycling – having scored sixth place at Jerez. “The result at Jerez was a big motivation for us to continue working on the development of these tyres, and a huge motivation for Bridgestone,” said Tamada. “Even if I know nothing about the Le Mans circuit the result at Jerez is confirmation that all of us in the team are working together in the right way.”

The MotoGP entry list for Le Mans and beyond includes a new name in the Telefonica Movistar Honda team, a name that is well known in All-Japan competition. The rider in question, Ryuichi Kiyonari, also came to global attention after scoring second in the World Supersport Championship race at Sugo on April 27 as a wild card rider.

The 20-year-old All-Japan Supersport Champion is excited by the prospect of running the premier GP class this early in his career. “When I found out that it was decided I’d be joining the MotoGP team, it was really sudden. I was both surprised and really happy. What I’m feeling right now is more a kind of impatience to get going rather than nervousness. First I have to get used to the new situation, then I hope to keep on riding as I have been.”

In the 250cc class each Honda rider will rely on the handling prowess of their machines to make up time around Le Mans’ many slower corners. The RS250RW’s best result so far has been second, thanks to the Jerez efforts of Italian rider Roberto Rolfo (Fortuna Honda RS250RW), a result which mirrors his current championship position.

Rolfo acknowledges that Le Mans may not be the ideal track for his racing package at present, but that he has some advantages to try and maximise. “Le Mans is a track I don’t like too much. You need a lot of acceleration off all the slow corners at that track. Right now that’s where we are suffering a bit. The chassis and suspension on the RS250RW is really good which compensates for that a little bit but Le Mans will be hard work. Le Mans can be wet at this time of year. Not that I want it to rain but if it does it will make things a little more equal.”

Sebastian Porto (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS250RW) went from second in the championship to fourth after finishing in sixth place at Jerez, but is determined to promote himself up the rankings. “After Jerez I am especially keen to have a better result at Le Mans,” stated Porto. “We will try our best as always, in qualifying and the race and I will be aiming to get back into second place overall.”

Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS125R) enters the le Mans race in a close second place, after scoring sixth in his home race, on the back of his first 2003 win at Welkom. He is another rider that finds the nature of the track more of a challenge for the machine than the man. “Le Mans is nice and simple really, but only the beginning of the track really flows,” he informs. “The end section is complicated and the whole thing is pretty hard work. It’s not a favourite of mine. You need good acceleration and a really good chassis set-up on the brakes. But if you’ve got the power then you have the advantage.”

In fourth place in the championship hunt, Welkom runner-up Andrea Dovizioso (Honda RS125R) is looking forward to Le Mans as much as he was happy to get Jerez over with. “I will be better in Le Mans than at Jerez. For a start I will be rid of this fever that I have had all weekend in Spain. There are corners at the Le Mans track a little like Welkom, and the set up will be close to that, so I will start off confidently.”

Mika Kallio (Ajo Motorsports Honda RS125R) adds his name to the list of riders who find Le Mans something of a ‘nothing’ circuit. Mika Kallio: “Le Mans is not one of my favourite tracks, it’s all stop and go, it just doesn’t flow nicely,” he confesses. “I got eighth there last year so there must be something about it I like. We have found the cause of our front end suspension problems so that will help me with braking into all the slow corners at Le Mans.”

The experience of veteran Masao Azuma (Ajo Motorsports Honda RS125R) tells him that Le Mans is a particular challenge to the set-up of the machine. “Last year I had a very good race to fifth at Le Mans, I hope for the same conditions as last year, then I will do well,” said Azuma, winner of the Rio GP in 2002. For that track everything has to be good. Engine power, chassis geometry and suspension, brakes, in fact everything”



More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

Proton Team KR riders – fresh from an unexpectedly strong two-stroke performance at Jerez – are prepared to race the KR3 500cc machine again at Le Mans. But they know they are approaching the end of one era and the start of another.

In the fortnight since the Spanish GP, both Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki have ridden the all-new V5 four-stroke challenger at shake-down tests in England. And the feeling of the power alone was enough to change the mood of the team.

There was a slender chance that the team would have four-strokes at Le Mans. The full force of the team was engaged in day by day development on the bike in the week before the race. With teething problems arising and being solved one by one, the goal was to have the new machines at the French track, unless insoluble problems intervened.

At the same time, a full complement of KR3 two-strokes had already left for the famous circuit in the west of France. If the four-strokes are still too green to take part, the trusty lightweight two-strokes will be available for one more race … at a twisty track where the KR3’s nimble handling pays dividends. Last year Aoki was sixth at Le Mans, the machine’s best result of the year.

Development of the new machine has taken place at record speed, with the engine running for the first time only in January. Since then, even while the race team has been taking part in the first three GPs, round-the-clock development back at Banbury base has taken the motor through exhaustive dynamometer tests, and seen the compact unit mated to the purpose-built new chassis.

A variety of detail problems – only to be expected with a project of this sort – delayed rolling tests until after the Spanish GP. Results were more than promising, but nobody in the team is under any illusions that the first stage of development is over.

“We’ve been running at a local airfield, and also at a small closed circuit,” said team manager Chuck Aksland on Tuesday. “We’ve had a couple of problems, but overall we’re making a lot of progress, and fixing things as we go along.

“Both riders were really impressed with the feel of the engine, and of the bike as a whole, and everything is pretty satisfactory.

“We just don’t know at this stage whether we will be able to bring the new machine to Le Mans – but everybody hopes it will be possible.”

The French GP, at the tight Bugatti circuit that shares the pit complex of the famous 24-hour car track, is the fourth of 16 rounds this season, the second in which the premier class has been open to 990cc four-strokes as well as the traditional 500cc two-strokes.

Ironically, the Proton KR3 lightweight alternative to the big factory V4 500s had its best ever season last year, with new riders McWilliams and Aoki earning widespread respect for their giant-killing efforts. But the bigger new bikes were considerably faster, and the writing was on the wall.

In October last year, team owner Kenny Roberts – himself three times 500cc World Champion – announced the intention to build their own four-stroke contender, with the full support of Malaysian sponsors Proton Cars.


Jeremy McWilliams
I’ve ridden the four-stroke now, and I was very impressed. It felt right … as though the design was right, with a lovely low-centre-of-gravity feeling. At first it was just straight-line stuff, and it was so strong, much stronger than the two-stroke in that it just keeps on pulling. I went up to about 14,000rpm in sixth … 290km/h or so, and it gets there so fast. That’s with the engine in a fairly low state of tune. There’s still a lot more power available from tweaking it. It’d be nice to get it to Le Mans and get into the top 15 in its first race … but it’s not the end of the world if we have to ride the two-stroke at Le Mans. In Spain it proved it’s still half-competitive with the new bikes. I’d be more concerned about the upcoming tracks at Mugello and Barcelona, where you need a bit more speed. Let’s hope it all goes right.


Nobuatsu Aoki
The new bike is very impressive, especially because of the power. It is much more than I expected, and that’s good for me. Also the way it responds to the throttle is very good. Another surprise was how tiny the whole package is – I felt comfortable on it right away, and I am really looking forward to getting more miles on it and starting to race it. If we’re racing the two-stroke in France, I’ll try to do well again, as at Jerez. But it will be more difficult than last year, with many more four-strokes, and everybody getting more used to them now.