From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2003
ROUND 5 – GRAN PREMIO CINZANO D’ITALIA
2ND JUNE 2003 – EVENT PREVIEW

THREE MAN KAWASAKI SQUAD FOR MUGELLO

The Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team’s ranks have been boosted by the addition of German wildcard Alex Hofmann, who joins regular riders, Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt, for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

Mugello will be Hofmann’s second race of the season following his earlier outing in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez where he finished a creditable 16th behind Pitt, after a spirited duel with his Fuchs Kawasaki teammate.

The three man Kawasaki squad head to Italy in good spirits following McCoy’s morale boosting ninth place in last week’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans, which delivered Kawasaki’s first top ten finish for the Ninja ZX-RR.

Immediately after Le Mans, the Kawasaki test team headed to Japan, where Hofmann was joined by Akira Yanagawa for a three-day test at Autopolis. The test focussed primarily on evaluating chassis and suspension data as part of the ongoing ZX-RR development programme.

The Italian GP will mark the first appearance of the ZX-RR at Mugello as, unlike many of the other teams contesting the MotoGP Championship, Kawasaki have neither raced nor tested at the circuit this season. The super fast Italian circuit will also provide a steep learning curve for 27-year-old Pitt, who is making his debut at Mugello this weekend.

The 5.24km Mugello circuit is set in the hills of Tuscany, 30km from Florence and close to the township of Scarperia. One of the more popular races on the calendar, the Italian Grand Prix traditionally attracts a massive crowd of noisy and patriotic race fans, many of whom line the main straight which, at 1.14km, is second only to Suzuka in terms of length and where top speeds in excess of 322kph (200mph) are predicted.

Garry McCoy
“I always enjoy racing in Italy as I lived in Rome when I was riding 125s. Getting ninth in Le Mans was good for the team, but now we’ve shown the potential of the bike and tyres in the wet we need to keep pushing to be faster in all conditions. We all want to be closer to the front and I just want to keep working hard to make even more progress. I’m feeling good after training flat out in Austria with the Red Bull downhill ski team, which should stand me in good stead with two races in as many weekends.”

Andrew Pitt
“Having never been to Mugello before, all I know about the circuit is what I’ve seen on television, and that doesn’t always tell the real story. First off I’ll do a few laps on a scooter so that I know my way around, but the only way you can really learn the track properly is to get out there and put in the laps on a race bike at speed. To be honest, I think Mugello is going to be one of the toughest tracks for me this year. From what I’ve seen it looks like you need a lot of side grip and a bike that steers really well, so that’s what we’ll be working to improve during practice and qualifying.”

Alex Hofmann
“I really enjoyed the test at Autopolis; the track was interesting and technical although conditions were a little windy. We made a step forward with chassis set-up in Japan, but it will be interesting to see if the same set-up also works on a European style circuit such as Mugello. The main focus of the test was to confirm that development is heading in the right direction in terms of chassis, suspension and tyre combinations.”

Harald Eckl – Team Manager
“The Autopolis test provided further feedback on our base chassis settings, which we will take to Mugello to evaluate in practice, along with some new front and rear tyres from Dunlop. Alex had an excellent test in Japan. He did some fast laps and I expect he will bring that form with him to Mugello. It won’t be easy for Andrew on his first visit to the circuit, but he has shown in the past that he is a fast learner of new tracks and, of course, everyone is in good spirits as a result of Garry’s top ten finish at Le Mans.”


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

PROTON KR FOUR-STROKE TO MAKE MUGELLO DEBUT

After an impressive first outing at the French GP at Le Mans, followed by a full day of successful testing, the exciting all-new V5 four-stroke Proton KR racer is scheduled to make a full racing debut at next weekend’s Italian GP at Mugello.

Riders Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki both plan to race the newest four-stroke on the block at the classic Italian circuit – part of the bold public development programme of the noisy new racer after its first time at a circuit only two weeks before.

The machines accumulated more than 100 laps at the French GP circuit over the weekend and on the Monday test, without running into any of the teething problems that had been tackled step by step during bench testing. This was four times race distance, and a landmark as the inevitable early difficulties are overcome.

“We had a few little hiccups, but nothing serious,” said team manager Chuck Aksland. “The engines held together the whole time, and we were able to make a good start at improving our base settings and getting some track miles done to build up data on the new machine.”

The radical new 990cc four-stroke, which exploits a compact and original V5 engine design to make a notably small and agile machine (a Proton KR trademark), had never even been round a corner before the first tentative laps in the first untimed practice session at Le Mans. One day later, McWilliams confidently set tenth-fastest time on a wet track; three days later both riders were achieving comfortable qualifying lap times. The proof of the overall balance of the package came in that both are already asking for more power.

That situation will not change for this weekend’s GP. “The bike’s not running to its potential yet, and unfortunately there’s not much time to do anything about it. As I said at Le Mans, it’ll be three months before we’re ready to do battle,” said team owner Kenny Roberts, himself triple World Champion and a racing legend. Roberts himself took a hand in early development runs on the new machine.

“It’s not going to be a rocket ship at Mugello, and it’s not going to handle as well as we’d like,” continued Roberts, now firmly established as the leading independent racing manufacturer by the arrival of the new bike.

“We don’t have enough parts for that yet. Le Mans was basically a shakedown tests, and the good news is that the engines held together.

“We’re letting everybody see what we’re doing in the early stages of development. We could be wrong in our direction, but I think it’s interesting for people to see,” he continued.

“We have a very broad power band at the moment, and our first target will be to take some of the mid-range power and move it higher up the rev range,” said Roberts.

While the race team continues race-testing, still establishing base settings for chassis and the all-important slipper clutch system, engine development work is continuing at Banbury and in the USA, where Rob Muzzy is dyno-testing to develop the next stage of tuning parts.

The promise of the bike is already clear, however, after the thunderous exhaust claimed everybody’s attention at the Le Mans fire-up. The new Proton KR may not yet be the fastest bike on the grid, but it’s the youngest, some already think it the prettiest … and definitely the loudest instrument in the MotoGP class’s exciting exhaust-pipe orchestra.

The Mugello circuit includes one of the fastest straights of the year, where the 990cc four-strokes are guaranteed to top 200mph. This is just one challenge faced by the all-new GP machines. Others include the likelihood of very hot conditions, not to mention a 20-plus field of race-developed rivals.

“We expect to have three of the new machines in Italy – one for each rider, and one spare,” confirmed Aksland. Finishing the race is the primary target, and will be a significant achievement for the first prototypes of the new machine.

The last word goes to Roberts. “We know we need a lot more development,” said Roberts.

“But this bike is just the match we’re using to light the fire.”

The Italian GP is the fifth of 16 World Championship rounds, with the Catalunyan GP one week later as the European season picks up the pace.

JEREMY McWILLIAMS
I’ll miss everything about the old bike … except the lack of power, and having people passing me so fast on the straights it’s frightening. I’ve really been enjoying the new four-stroke, even though there’s obviously still a lot of work to be done. It’s really compact and comfortable for me, and a pleasure to ride – so easy after the two-stroke. The bike has so much power that if you touch the throttle when it’s cranked over the wheel can’t help but spin, and then you control the slide with the throttle. It may not be the best way for lap times, but it’s a lot of fun. It might be possible to get a better result at Mugello with the two-stroke, but we need to work on this bike for the future.

NOBUATSU AOKI
I honestly don’t know what to expect at Mugello, but I am looking forward to it. There’s no difficulty adjusting from the two-stroke to the four-stroke, though it was hard to go back and forth at Le Mans from one to another. We have to get the clutch adjusted, and keep working. The new bike has a lot of power, but it needs more at the top. We could get to a good lap time at Le Mans, still working on the suspension, but it was hard to improve on that time. There’ll be a lot of work with the engineers this weekend.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Italian Grand Prix
Mugello, June 6/7/8 2003

A BIG WEEKEND FOR THE DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM

The Ducati Marlboro Team comes home to Italy this weekend for the biggest event of its debut MotoGP campaign. The Italian-based crew can be sure of receiving massive support at Mugello, where the so-called Ducatisti will turn the Tuscan hillsides red. There’s even a 2000-seater grandstand for Ducati fans situated at the Correntaio right-hander!

Over the past two months the Ducati Marlboro Team has more than justified the pre-season hype surrounding its awesome Desmosedici MotoGP machine, taking one pole position and two podium finishes so far. And on Sunday riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi will be doing everything in their power to give the Italian fans what they want – a first race win for the 220-plus horsepower V4 – but they also know that this weekend is just another step up the MotoGP learning curve.

The action is sure to be spectacular – during Mugello tests the Desmosedici has nudged 330kmh/205mph along the track’s start-finish straight. That’s mightily impressive, but even more amazing is that the bike pulls a wheelie at 320kmh/200mph as it crests the rise just before turn one!

The 2003 MotoGP season continues in quick-fire style after Mugello with next weekend’s Marlboro Catalan GP at Catalunya in Spain. The campaign concludes with the Marlboro Valencia GP on November 2.

THE DESMOSEDICI’S MUGELLO HOMECOMING

The Ducati Marlboro Team has made a remarkable start to its first MotoGP season – leading all four races so far. The year began in stunning fashion at April’s Japanese GP where Loris Capirossi scored a podium finish in the Desmosedici’s first-ever race. The Italian rider followed that three weeks later with the bike’s first front-row start in South Africa, and in Spain last month it was Troy Bayliss’ turn to finish on the podium after the pair had dominated qualifying, with Capirossi on pole and Bayliss second, just one hundredth of a second slower.

The team’s performance – against rivals who have been competing in GPs for years – has stunned both the paddock and fans around the globe. But two weeks ago at Le Mans the crew came down to earth with a bump – both Bayliss and Capirossi DNFed the French GP – a result that didn’t soften the expectations people have been placing upon the team.

“In racing you expect good days and bad days, so we weren’t too upset about Le Mans,” says Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “Mugello promises to be something very special – Ducati’s first official GP race in Italy in three decades – so we hope for more luck than we had in France. We won’t feel any extra pressure just because it’s our home race, but we will be very busy with more guests to look after and more interest from the national media.”

Mugello is something of a homecoming for the Desmosedici, because it was here last August that test-rider Vittoriano Guareschi gave the machine its track debut. But while the factory has been back to the high-speed Tuscan venue many times since, Bayliss has only tested the Desmosedici at the track on two occasions, Capirossi just once.

“At least this means we can start with a good base,” says Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “So we’ll be able to look for performance improvements from day one, which is unusual for us. When we go to most tracks we start by looking for a base set-up, which puts us behind most teams.

“I think the bike is well suited to Mugello. The track’s dominant features are its fast straight and high-speed chicanes. But it’s a very complete circuit, with uphill and downhill sections, so you need a well-balanced bike. For sure it will be a crazy weekend with all the fans around, but we are looking forward to it.”

BAYLISS READY FOR WILD WEEKEND
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss knows all about riding for the legendary Italian marque on home tarmac. Over the past three years the hard-riding Australian rode factory Dukes in Italian rounds of the World Superbike championship, receiving the plaudits of the fervently patriotic Ducatisti at Monza, Misano and Imola. And he knows this weekend is going to be just as wild. “It’s good to feel the crowd behind you, and I reckon they’ll be making a bit of noise!” grins Bayliss. “I like Mugello, and the last time we tested there in April we made another step forward with bike set-up. It was a geometry change that made a big difference, now we’re just fine tuning to make the bike easier to ride.

“The track has got a good character. It’s very up and down, there’s some good corners and some good straights too, so it’s got a little bit of everything. It’s even got a few nice bumps – I like a few bumps on a racetrack – things can get a little bit boring if it’s too smooth. The start-finish should be fun too – the bike pulls a wheelie over the crest at about 320 kays, which feels nice now, but a few months ago when we were working on basic set-up it could get a bit shaky…”

Bayliss, now riding his first MotoGP season, recently confirmed his loyalty to Ducati, the factory that brought him into world-class racing in 2000. “This is a great team, very comfortable and very homely for me, which makes racing very pleasurable,” he smiles. “I’ve been riding Ducatis for a few years now, and I can’t see myself racing for anyone else. I’m not a young guy, so I can’t see me changing teams!”

DOUBLE MUGELLO WINNER CAPIROSSI: “IT’S VERY, VERY BIG!”

This weekend will be one of the biggest of Loris Capirossi’s life. The Italian rider, who has been contesting and winning World Championships since 1990, knows all about racing in front of an appreciative home crowd. But he knows that the 2003 Italian GP will be like no other. “This will be a great weekend for us – it’s my home GP and it’s Ducati’s home GP,” he says. “I have ridden for another Italian factory but this is Ducati and it’s MotoGP, so it’s very, very big!”

Capirossi knows Mugello well – he won his first Mugello GP ten years ago in the 250 class. And three years ago he scored a famous 500 victory after a titanic battle with Italian rivals Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi. The trio raced side by side, Rossi and Biaggi tumbling in the final laps to give Capirossi his second win in the premier class. Last year he struggled to sixth on a two-stroke 500, outpaced by the much faster four-strokes.

“Mugello will be a difficult race because it’s a difficult track,” he adds. “There’s a lot for riders and engineers to understand: fast corners and fast changes of direction, downhill corners with negative camber and a few bumps. All this means a lot of work on chassis set-up. The most important part of the circuit is Casanova-Savelli, Arrabbiata one and two, and the last corner for a good drive onto the main straight. But speed won’t be a problem – we have a lot of that!”

THE TRACK
Italy is the generally agreed to be the heart and soul of motorsport, which is why the Italian GP is arguably the greatest weekend of the GP season.

Not only that, Mugello is the kind of fast, flowing track that should allow the Desmosedici to unleash its awesome horsepower. The circuit is one of the most challenging, with a thrilling blend of fast turns, rapid direction changes, plentiful off-camber corners and an ultra-rapid main straight. Mugello’s complexities are further heightened by a bumpy surface, which, combined with numerous adverse-camber corners, makes front-tyre choice particularly crucial.

Mugello has been popular ever since it joined the GP calendar full-time in 1991, first as the San Marino round and then as the Italian GP. The circuit hosted its first bike GP in 1976 but only became a regular venue after total refurbishment in the early nineties.

Mugello: 5.245km/3.259 miles
Lap record: Tohru Ukawa (Honda), 1m:52.601 (167.689kmh/ 104.197mph)
Pole position 2002: Valentino Rossi (Honda), 1:52.554

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM DATA LOGS:

TROY BAYLISS
Age: 34
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici
First GP: Australia, 1997 (250)
GP starts: 5 (4xMotoGP, 1×250)
World Superbike victories: 22
World Championships: 1 (Superbike: 2001)
Mugello 2002 results: DNS

LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 30
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici
GP victories: 22 (2×500, 12×250, 8×125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
GP starts: 188 (18xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125)
Pole positions: 34 (1xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Mugello 2002 results. Grid: 4th. Race: 6th


More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:

MELANDRI MEETS THE ITALIAN PRESIDENT

Fortuna Yamaha Team rider Marco Melandri put aside his racing leathers today replacing them with a smart Dolce & Gabbana suit, as he had an important meeting to go to with the President of Italy!

Melandri was one of three current MotoGP riders lucky enough to be invited to attend a short ceremony with Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic, at the Quirinale Palace in Rome this morning. Organised by the FMI (Italian Federation of Motorcycle Racing), the event was a celebration of Italy’s success over the years in motorcycle racing. Italy currently boasts 150 MotoGP and 500cc class Grand Prix victories, making it the joint highest winning country with the USA.

As well as four of the current Italian MotoGP riders – Melandri, Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi, the line-up included past and present Italian motorcycling heroes from both MotoGP and other motorcycle sports such as Giacomo Agostini, Luca Cadalora, PierPaolo Bianchi, Eugenio Lazzarini, Bruno Ruffo, Carlo Rubini, GianMarco Rossi, Giovanni Sala, Alex Puzar, and Yamaha Motocross 125 riders Andrea Bartolini and Alessio Chiodi.

After a brief welcome introduction by FMI Italian representative Paolo Sesti and a speech from the president of the Italian Olympics committee Gianni Petrucci, President Ciampi was then invited to present medals to each rider, as a token for each of their individual contributions to Italian sporting
history.

Ciampi spoke of his personal interest in motorcycling as a sport, relating to the surprised group his experiences with bikes in his youth when he was in the military, “I once went too fast on a bike and decided it was better not to ride any more!” he explained to the riders. “Motorcycle racing is very special to me – it is sometimes dangerous and can be scary. It is important for young people to watch and to learn from sports, and from motorcycle racing I think they can see that it is good to be prudent and to respect other people.” The 82-year-old then wished the riders good luck and success in their careers.

250cc World Champion Melandri was delighted to have been invited, commenting on the day, “It was great to meet the President! I did not have the chance to speak to him for a long time but I noticed that as soon as he started talking he seemed much younger. It was exciting just to be in the same room as him – I didn’t know what to say. I was quite surprised because he seems to know a lot about bikes, he also had a very good sense of humour.”

Melandri will stay in his home country for the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello that takes place this Sunday, 8 June.