Gauloises Yamaha Team Preview Portuguese Grand Prix Estoril, Portugal 15, 16, 17 April 2005 GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM LOOK TO REPEAT HISTORY AT ESTORIL Almost a year to the day since Valentino Rossi’s debut win for Yamaha in the opening round of the 2004 MotoGP World Championship at Welkom in South Africa, the Gauloises Yamaha Team head to Portugal this week with the adrenaline still pumping after an intense start to the new season. Fresh on the back of his breathtaking final-corner victory over Sete Gibernau at Jerez on Sunday, Rossi and his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards stayed on at the Spanish circuit to complete an extra day of tests on Monday and now travel west across the Spanish border to prepare for the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril. Originally scheduled for its traditional September slot later in the season, the Portuguese Grand Prix has been brought forward to April in place of the cancelled Rio event, giving Yamaha’s engineers the perfect opportunity to compare the performance of the 2005 version YZR-M1 machine just six months after racing the ’04 bike at the same circuit. Located on the western tip of Europe, just seven kilometres from the Atlantic coast, Estoril is always exposed to the elements and a springtime visit promises to deliver similarly wild and windy conditions to those regularly encountered in autumn. Rossi and Edwards will be hoping the weather does not tamper with their Grand Prix preparations as significantly as it did at Jerez, where high winds rendered the good set-up they had found during three days of tests virtually obsolete. Edwards, in particular, found it difficult to adjust and was forced to make last-minute changes to the setting of his YZR-M1 on race day after qualifying in 15th place. The American fought bravely in the face of adversity to finish in the top ten but he will benefit from strong support from his team this weekend as they aim to propel him to the front of the pack. Edwards’ disappointment was counterbalanced on the opposite side of the garage by Rossi’s joy at a determined victory, which came in the final corner of a 27-lap thriller against Gibernau. The reigning World Champion is now citing the Spaniard as his main challenger for the title, as he has been for the past two seasons, and expects another close race as he aims to continue a winning run at Estoril that stretches back to his first triumph there in 2001. VALENTINO ROSSI: TOUGH AT THE TOP Twelve months on from his momentous debut win for Yamaha in South Africa, Rossi finds himself back on top of the MotoGP World Championship and with another slice of history in his sights. Victory this Sunday would make him the first Yamaha rider in the factory’s 50-year history to score five consecutive wins in the premier class, having equalled Eddie Lawson’s 1986 record at Jerez. “It is always nice to make records but I don’t really think about that too much,” commented Rossi. “Sunday was a different feeling to winning at Welkom last year because it wasn’t so much of a surprise, but it was an amazing race and an important way to start the championship. The level was very high and the race showed us which aspects of the 2005 bike we need to improve. We have a lot of work to do but the motivation of the whole team to defend the title is very high and I want to say thanks to all of my mechanics, to Yamaha and to Michelin for their efforts. “Estoril will be another hard battle the second one of seventeen! For sure Sete Gibernau is my strongest challenger this year. We have sixteen more races to go and if he is at that level in every one of them he will be very difficult to beat. “The Estoril track is full of bumps and it is important to find a good direction early on during the weekend. We want to focus on doing a great job again during the practice in Portugal and Sunday should be another fantastic show.” Rossi’s Crew Chief Jeremy Burgess added that, whilst Jerez was a good opportunity to compare data from the updated YZR-M1 with the 2004 version at the same early stage of last season, Estoril will provide a more realistic reflection of the progress they have made with the new bike over the recent winter tests. “The bike we raced at Jerez last year was in a very early stage of its evolution but by Estoril it was very well developed,” explained the Australian. “The date change for Portugal this year means it’s a comparatively short time since we last raced there and we will be able to judge more accurately just how far we have come with the new machine.” COLIN EDWARDS: DETERMINED TO FIGHT UP FRONT The Portuguese Grand Prix cannot come soon enough for Colin Edwards, who is itching to get back on board his YZR-M1 after a disappointing debut with Yamaha at Jerez on Sunday. The American felt that his ninth place in the race from 15th on the grid was below his and the team’s expectations but he is happy to have the chance to put the record straight so quickly. “We struggled on Sunday, I’ve got to be honest,” explained Edwards, who became the first rider in MotoGP to race four-stroke machines from three different factories. “We made a big change to the bike in the morning to try and cope with the dust on the track but it only made things worse. However, we sorted a few things out at the test in Jerez and I’m looking forward to getting to Estoril. “In my case it’s good to have the next round in just a few days’ time because I wasn’t entirely happy with the way things went on Sunday. We cost ourselves four or five points but now we’ve got the chance to make those up by putting our heads down and getting on with business. “It will be nice to get to another track because, if you include tests, we’ve now done seven days in a row at Jerez. It’s nice to have a change and go to a track that nobody’s tested at during the winter. It’s a chance for us to start afresh.” Still in just his third year of MotoGP competition, Edwards has made only two previous visits to the notoriously demanding Estoril circuit but says he is confident the hard work put in by the whole Gauloises Yamaha Team during the winter can bear fruit. “Over the winter we’ve found a base setting which has worked everywhere except Jerez, so I’m curious to see what’s going to work at Estoril. It’s got a long straight but in general it’s a tight and twisty circuit and the Yamaha should excel. I’m just looking forward to getting there, getting back on the bike and seeing exactly what we have to work with.” DAVIDE BRIVIO: HOPING FOR MORE OF THE SAME Gauloises Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio has finally recovered his breath after that heart-stopping last lap at Jerez and says he is hoping for a repeat performance from Valentino Rossi in Portugal. “The race in Jerez was great in terms of strategy and performance,” commented the Italian. “Although a lot of the focus has been on the last corner, both Valentino and Sete ran a very tactical race at a high level throughout. I think we can expect the same level of close racing from those two riders again at Estoril.” Like Jeremy Burgess, Brivio is looking forward to comparing the updated YZR-M1 to the data recorded by the 2004 machine at Estoril just over six months ago and says the whole team will be endeavouring to make sure Colin Edwards is as comfortable on the bike as Rossi. “We go to Estoril very interested to see how the bike performs because even though we won the race on Sunday, the 2005 version YZR-M1 is still very much in the development phase. Anyway, we will arrive there with the championship lead and we won the race last year, so we are confident. Our simple aim is to stay at the top. “For Colin it is very important to have another race so soon because we need the chance to work hard with him to make him comfortable on the bike. It was not a good start to the season for him but we made a short test on the day after the race and we found some good solutions for his settings which will be very useful for the next race. Our target is to get Colin to the front of the pack because we know he has the potential to be there.” BLAST FROM THE PAST: CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF YAMAHA GLORY Yamaha head to Estoril this weekend looking to maintain an impressive win ratio at the Portuguese Grand Prix that currently stands at four out of seven, including the inaugural event in 1987 and the most recent, held at Estoril last September. The first ever Portuguese Grand Prix was actually hosted at the Jarama circuit in Madrid, with Yamaha riders filling all three steps of the podium. The race was won by Eddie Lawson, with a nine-second advantage over Randy Mamola and Kevin Magee, who clinched a surprise third place in just his third Grand Prix appearance. The following season the event was moved south to Jerez, where Yamaha again dominated. Once more it was Lawson who took victory, with Magee again making the podium in third place but this time behind new factory colleague Wayne Rainey. It was the first of Rainey’s 64 podium finishes for Yamaha in the 500cc class and confirmed the arrival of a man who would go on to become one of the sport’s true legends. After an absence of over a decade, Portugal returned to the calendar in 2000 and was again won by Yamaha, with Garry McCoy sliding his way to the top of the podium in the first ever race on Portuguese soil at Estoril. Valentino Rossi has won every race at the coastal circuit since then, including a masterful triumph over Makoto Tamada for Yamaha last season. TECHNICALLY SPEAKING The Autodromo Fernanda Pires de Silva is frequently blessed and cursed by the changing moods of the mighty Atlantic Ocean. At times wet and frequently windy, the 4.182km hilltop circuit is often a hostage of the elements; with accurate prediction of the race weekend weather a near impossibility. Estoril is a circuit of extreme contrasts. One of the lengthiest main straights in MotoGP allows speeds of over 340km/h to be reached and yet the chicane is one of the slowest corners on the 17-round MotoGP trail. The track itself has the slowest average speed and the throttle is seldom overworked on the extensively twisty and tortuous infield sections, riddled as they are by a host of second and third gear bends. However, the 200km/h turn five kink and final Parabolica corner are two of the toughest tests of any rider and machine’s cornering prowess. With such contrasting challenges to overcome, the team mechanics and Michelin tyre technicians have no choice but to opt for compromise settings. Suspension front and rear has to be generally set to work best towards the end of the race, to aid the tyres after such an extensive workout on the circuit’s nine right and four left hand corners. VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION Age: 26 Lives: London, UK Bike: Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1 GP victories: 69 (30 X MotoGP, 13 X 500cc, 14 X 250cc, 12 X 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 141 (49 x MotoGP, 32 x 500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) GP Pole positions: 36 World Championships 6 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 3 x MotoGP) Estoril 2004 results (Yamaha): Grid: 2nd, Race: 1st COLIN EDWARDS: INFORMATION Age: 31 Lives: Conroe, Texas Bike: Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1 GP victories: – First GP: Japan, 2002 (MotoGP) GP starts: 33 Pole positions: – World Championships 2 World Superbike Estoril 2004 results (Honda): Grid: 8th, Race: 9th Estoril MotoGP lap record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1m 38.423s – 2004; Circuit best lap: Makoto Tamada (Honda), 1m 37.933s 2004.