Copyright 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Provisional MotoGP Qualifying Results:

1. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, 1:29.295
2. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 1:29.584
3. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, 1:29.681
4. Carlos CHECA, Yamaha, 1:29.833
5. Sete GIBERNAU, Honda, 1:29.910
6. Colin EDWARDS, Honda, 1:29.919
7. Max BIAGGI, Honda, 1:29.961
8. Marco MELANDRI, Yamaha, 1:30.162
9. Troy BAYLISS, Ducati, 1:30.258
10. Alex BARROS, Honda, 1:30.269
11. Ruben XAUS, Ducati, 1:30.305
12. Kenny ROBERTS, Suzuki, 1:30.366
13. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, 1:30.442
14. Neil HODGSON, Ducati, 1:30.478
15. Norick ABE, Yamaha, 1:30.559
16. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, 1:31.141
17. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, 1:31.164
18. Jeremy McWILLIAMS, Aprilia, 1:31.390
19. Alex HOFMANN, Kawasaki, 1:31.575
20. Shane BYRNE, Aprilia, 1:31.840
21. Michel FABRIZIO, Harris WCM, 1:31.987
22. Nobuatsu AOKI, Proton, 1:32.433
23. Kurtis ROBERTS, Proton, 1:32.505
24. Chris BURNS, Harris WCM, 1:33.665


More, from a press release issued by DORNA:

Hayden smashes pole record at Donington Park

Whilst yesterday was Day of Champions at the Donington Park circuit, today was a day of surprises as Nicky Hayden took provisional pole position for the first time in his MotoGP career with a stunning new record. Hayden’s lap time of 1’29.295, on a newly laid track surface and under bright blue skies at the Leicestershire circuit, was 1.445 seconds quicker than the previous record held by Max Biaggi and came as the climax to an entertaining first day of action at the Cinzano British Grand Prix.

With just two minutes of the first qualifying session remaining, Carlos Checa moved to the top of the time sheets to spark a string of pole attacks from Hayden, Valentino Rossi, Ruben Xaus, Loris Capirossi and Colin Edwards. Whilst all five riders were up on Checa’s time through the fast first half of the track, only Hayden, Rossi and Capirossi were able to outpace the Spaniard in the slower final two sections, which feature a chicane and two hairpins, with the young Honda rider securing top spot by 0.289 seconds from Rossi.

“I came here with the intention of being the fastest man in at least one of the sessions so I am very happy to have done it on the first day,” commented Hayden, who has finished on the podium at the last two consecutive races. “Now I can concentrate on working from this base and really preparing well for Sunday. At the last two races I’ve been close, but not quite close enough, so this weekend I want to take that next step and make sure that I’m up there fighting for the win when it comes down to it in the last five laps.”

With Capirossi making it three factories on the provisional front row with the third fastest time on the Ducati, Rossi’s Yamaha team-mate Carlos Checa was bumped down to the provisional second row ahead of Honda duo Sete Gibernau and Colin Edwards.

Honda rider Max Biaggi, who trails Rossi by just one point in the championship, was seventh fastest and heads up the provisional third row from Marco Melandri, who rode through the pain barrier after breaking a bone in his hand in a crash during the morning free practice, when he was inadvertently knocked from his Yamaha by Kawasaki rider Alex Hofmann. Ducati’s Troy Bayliss and Honda man Alex Barros complete a top ten which is covered by less than a second.

Ruben Xaus also crashed out this morning but was uninjured and, after his pole effort at the end of the session faded dramatically, he will be satisfied to have qualified eleventh fastest ahead of improving Suzuki pair Kenny Roberts and John Hopkins. Xaus’ D’Antin Ducati team-mate Neil Hodgson, riding in front of his home crowd for the first time since winning the World Superbike Championship, was fourteenth fastest.

Alex de Angelis emulated Hayden’s achievement in the 250cc class, also setting his first provisional pole with a new record lap for Aprilia. De Angelis, flying high on confidence after taking his first quarter-litre podium in Germany five days ago, dominated both the morning and afternoon sessions and showed his character with a late lap of 1’33.336 to secure top spot on the provisional grid after Toni Elías had threatened to spoil his day with a late fast lap on the Honda.

Randy de Puniet was third fastest, just 0.008 seconds off the time of Elías, whilst series leader and reigning 125cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa demonstrated typically swift adaptation to the circuit with the final spot on the provisional front row in fourth. Sebastian Porto, Manuel Poggiali, Alex Debon and Hiroshi Aoyama make up the provisional second row, whilst home favourite Chaz Davies, the Welsh teenager, enjoyed his best session of the season so far with the eleventh fastest time.

Andrea Dovizioso continued his dominance of the 125cc World Championship, also setting a new pole position record with a lap of 1’37.736 to top the time sheets by over half a second on his Honda. KTM rider Mika Kallio looked on course to dislodge the Italian on his final lap but was baulked by Lukas Pesek in the last corner and had to settle for second, just moments before being dropped to third by Pablo Nieto on the Aprilia. Roberto Locatelli completes the provisional front row after making up eleven positions in his final two laps.


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

Proton KR experiments bear fruit at home GP



Nobuatsu Aoki: 22nd, 1:32.433
Kurtis Roberts: 23rd: 1:32.505

Proton Team KR riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts embarked on a new phase of the race-by-race development programme of the England-built V5 MotoGP racer today, running through a series of detail engine changes in a bid to refocus attention on improving lap times rather than concentrating on horsepower and elusive top speed.

The change was decreed from the top, when team principal Kenny Roberts returned recently from US to find improvements in some areas of performance at the last two races, but not in results.

In the week since the German GP last Sunday, Roberts instituted an urgent programme of engine development and experimentation. With engineering headquarters barely an hour down the motorway at Banbury, the team was able to respond with a number of different engine variations to test at the GP meeting. These include different versions of both the short-stroke and the more recent long-stroke motor, as well as changes in firing order, and more variations will be delivered overnight to try tomorrow.

This has been fruitful for Aoki, who immediately found an engine combination with distinct improvements – though as expected these changed the overall compromise, bringing other difficulties to light. Roberts had a more difficult day, with engine problems on one bike, and a tumble at the end of the final session.

Today’s first practice and qualifying sessions took place in warm but cloudy conditions. Similar weather is expected tomorrow, with the chance of rain on Sunday. There is one more day of practising and qualifying before Sunday’s race. Today’s provisional pole time was set by Nicky Hayden (Honda).

Nobuatsu Aoki
I have a new engine that makes much steadier power. Before the torque curve was very steep, but now it is flatter and the bike is easier to ride. On the other hand, it seems to have more back torque and engine braking, and into corners with heavy braking the bike is sideways, like a Supermoto! That’s fun for people to see, but not so much fun if you are riding. We changed the chassis settings after the morning and made it a bit better. Also I have lost some front feeling. We need to work on the best compromise.

Kurtis Roberts
This hasn’t been a good day for me . I had bike trouble this morning, and then I lost the front in the afternoon. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Kenny Roberts – Team principal
We are trying a variety of motor specs here, and Nobu seems fairly happy with his combination, though we had to change one of Kurtis’s motors. We have some more motors coming tonight. But we don’t have just one problem to solve. It’s a group of problems, and we’re working on them all.


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:


McWilliams and Byrne begin home battle

MS Aprilia Racing’s Jeremy McWilliams and Shane Byrne kicked off their home bid at Donington Park this afternoon by ending opening qualifying in 18th and 20th places respectively.

Cheered on by a sizeable Friday crowd gathered for the opening day of the British GP, McWilliams ended the session with a best time of 1.31.390s. Two places further back on the provisional grid is crowd favourite Byrne, who finished with a best time of 1.31.840s, as he got back on familiar territory at the 2.5 miles circuit. On the newly-resurfaced circuit located in the heart of England, Shakey was frustrated this afternoon after making a positive start in the opening free practice session. Byrne had impressed by setting the 12th best time this morning. But he suffered cruel luck in the critical closing stages of the final session. Trying to better his position on Michelin’s qualifying tyre, Byrne’s number one Cube suffered a small mechanical problem with just three minutes remaining. He was forced back to the pits for his spare machine, but with no set-up he faced an impossible task to better his time.

Shakey said: “I’m a little disappointed because 20th position is not where I expected to be at my home GP, particularly after this morning. I know without the problem we had at the end of the session we could have been quicker. I have a lot of support here which is great and I hope to do better for the fans tomorrow and on Sunday.”

McWilliams, who just five days ago claimed his best result on the Cube three-cylinder at the Sachsenring, said: “The character of this circuit doesn’t really suit our bike. It has been difficult to get the bike to turn sweetly. This is one problem of the Aprilia. When I tip into a corner it is difficult to keep the bike on the right line, so we need to work on the chassis setting tonight.” McWilliams is approaching close to full fitness again for his much-anticipated home race, having struggled with a painful back injury in Germany last weekend. Both riders are confident of making big strides tomorrow, with a crowd of 80,000 expected to roar on British superbike champion Byrne and McWilliams. MotoGP is currently booming in Britain, thanks largely down to the popularity of Shakey and Jeremy. Today’s session was run under cloudy skies as thankfully there was no repeat of yesterday’s torrential rain.


More, form a press release issued by Camel Honda Racing Information:


First qualifying in British GP. Max ends up with seventh, Makoto 16th.

It was a first day of practice after the violent downpours of yesterday afternoon and the first taster of the freshly-laid surface at Donington Park today. New asphalt, new levels of grip, and a new challenge as the team aim to get the bike set-up more suited to the famous British circuit. Times have already dropped by a second and a half compared to last year, and the two yellow Camel Honda RC211Vs have carried out all the work they had scheduled and tomorrow they will go in search of those little extra bits of improvement that mean so much to positions at the top end of the starting grid.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)

“The new asphalt has completely transformed the characteristics of this track. Now we have to adjust the bike’s settings and the tyre choice to the different grip levels of the track and it’s this, combined with the bikes’ performances which are always on the increase, that has seen the times drop by a second and a half compared to last year. We need to get the bike set up better for the race, but there’s not far to go. Max, his mechanics and Honda are concentrating on getting to the level which will allow him to fight for pole tomorrow, as Max did successfully last year. I hope that Makoto and his mechanics can find what they need tomorrow to get them in conditions to be battling for pole too.”

Max Biaggi – Camel Honda (Michelin Tyres) – 7th – 1:29.961

“This morning we made a modification to the bike that worked straight away. So we continued in this direction but without wanting to change the set up too much because this bike doesn’t need that. We don’t have any problem in particular, it’s just about getting all the settings fine-tuned a little more. We’re nearly there, and I’m calm despite 7th place. Hayden did a great lap, but if the weather stays the same tomorrow, I think that the times will drop even further. The new asphalt is a step forward compared to last year, but it hasn’t solved all the problems of the track, the grip is improved, but there are still some bumps and dips at the bottom end of the circuit.”

Gianluca Montiron – Camel Honda – (Makoto Tamada Team Manager)

“We can improve, even though Makoto didn’t have too much confidence in the front end of the bike today, he wasn’t able to go to the limit of his capabilities. We will analyse the data today to see more precisely where we need to improve. We still haven’t got the overall balance of the bike right, and the next two sessions will be all-important. Donington isn’t one of Makoto’s favourites, the grip of the new surface is different and this has also contributed to the performance today for Makoto Tamada”.

Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda (Bridgestone Tyres) – 16th – 1:31.141

“I had little ‘feeling’ with the front, especially in the fast part of the track, and it’s important to go well there on this track. So we have to improve as soon as possible to be competitive tomorrow. The track is clearly improved by the new asphalt, the annoying bumps aren’t there any more, but the grip is different to last year. We’re at a good point with the tyres, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:


Capirossi storms to provisional front row

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss got their British GP weekend off to a storming start in warm, breezy weather at Donington Park this afternoon. Capirossi rode a superb session, grabbing pole for a second or two in the final moments before slipping to third, just 0.289 seconds adrift of provisional pole-sitter Nicky Hayden. Troy Bayliss also performed strongly, inside the top six during the closing stages and ending up ninth, just 0.577 seconds off his team-mate.

The often-criticised Donington track has been resurfaced for this year, although opinion is split over the new tarmac’s traction properties. However, the surface is much smoother than before, the main reason today’s best lap was a massive 1.4 seconds inside last year’s pole position time.

“As we’ve said before, we are on our way back,” said Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo who is hoping to witness the team’s first podium result of 2004 soon. “At the last few races our riders have shown some impressive pace but we’ve lacked the luck to get any good results apart the 4th position of Loris in Brazil. For sure if we keep working like this, we shouldn’t have long to wait. Both today’s sessions were good for us. Loris and Troy did a good job on race tyres and Loris did a very, very good job on qualifiers.”

Capirossi third, 0.386 Seconds off pole
Loris Capirossi was back where he belongs at Donington today – up front. And the Ducati Marlboro Team rider, who last weekend was in the hunt for a podium finish in Germany before he slid off, is certain that tomorrow he will continue his fight for his first front row start of the year.

“I’m happy with the provisional front row, but we still need to work on the bike,” said Capirossi. “Most important of all, today’s result proves you should never give up, and it shows that both the team and the factory have been working very hard, so my thanks to everyone for working with the same spirit. As far as the bike goes we still lack a bit of feeling, but I think we can improve that for tomorrow. The track seems less grippy than last year but much smoother.”

Bayiss chases feeling at the park
Troy Bayliss was looking good for a slot on the provisional second row at Donington this afternoon but ended up just three tenths shy to place ninth quickest. His main concern tomorrow is to improve front-end feeling so he can attack the turns with more aggression.

“The new surface is definitely smoother, it’s not so bumpy,” said Bayliss. “The grip isn’t bad but it seems to give the tyres a hard time. This afternoon I put some more laps on a tyre I’d already used this morning, and it wasn’t too bad, but we need to do some more laps before we really know what we can run. Overall I’m fairly happy, though I’m struggling with feeling from the front, so we’ll play around with the front and see where that gets us tomorrow.”


More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha:


Rossi and Checa set leading pace at Donington

Despite the drenching that the 4.023km Donington Park circuit took overnight, today’s first day of qualifying for the British Grand Prix provided near perfect track conditions, with Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa fully up to pace on their YZR-M1 machines. Rossi took second place on the provisional grid thanks to his best lap of 1:29.584, with Checa an eventual fourth on 1:29.833.

After only eight minutes of qualifying Rossi had beaten the previous best lap of the Donington circuit with a time of 1:30.509. The young Italian exploited the smoother and slightly more grippy resurfaced tarmac on the schizophrenic track layout, which features one slow section riddled with hairpins and the rest a series of sweeping undulations. Rossi’s final fastest time, which left him second out of the 24 entrants, was only 0.289s off the pace of provisional pole man Nicky Hayden (Honda), and just 0.097 seconds faster than third placed rider Loris Capirossi (Ducati).

Rossi also became the first ever rider into the 1:29 mark at Donington, taking his YZR-M1 to a time of 1:29.896 mid way through the session, and he was joined shortly afterwards by team-mate Checa, who was himself on the provisional pole position for a short time after dipping under the 1:29 mark.

Valentino Rossi (2nd, 1:29.584)

“I went quite well today, I have a good rhythm and the bike feels good here, but we’ve had a few set-up problems. We have had much better grip because the bumpy bits of the track feel better than last year but I need to try some other tyres tomorrow. We have done a lot of work here, our first time at this circuit with the M1, and we are up front. Hayden looks good on qualifying tyres and well done to Loris, I’m happy to see him up front again. This track is good for me, technical and difficult, and with more work on the set-up and the tyres tomorrow we will be on even better form. We don’t want to change much though, just a few small points. I would like at the least to be on the podium this weekend, this is our objective.”

Carlos Checa (4th, 1:29.833)

“Not so bad on the first day but we still have to work with the tyres for the race because with our rear end stability it is difficult to keep the pace. In the fast areas we do not have such good rear stability to be able to be fast. In the rest of the track it is OK. The track surface is flatter, less bumps but I think the grip level is similar, nothing noticeably better. We need some more wider rumble strips in some areas however. I think someone forgot that.”

Davide Brivio – team director

“Normally we can go quite well on Friday so now we have to continue at a high standard. It was not so bad because both riders have a good pace. Valentino has been very good and Carlos is similar to all the other top guys. If we can continue in this pace and continue to find the right settings hopefully we can stay in the top group. For sure the track surface has influenced the lap times compared to last year, but the bike and tyres have improved. So this maybe is the reason for a bigger step than normal. I think they did a good job on the track, I hope they can upgrade the facilities here soon as well.”


More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:


Set up for Nakano and Hofmann at Donington

The complexities of the two-part Donington Park circuit proved a difficult challenge for Fuchs Kawasaki riders, Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann, in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Last night’s heavy rain gave way to a sunny day, although there were few smiles in the green garage with Nakano 17th and Hofmann 19th on the provisional grid for Sunday’s race.

With no base data at this track for the 2004 model Ninja ZX-RR, both the riders and Kawasaki technicians spent today in search of a base set-up and solutions for improved braking stability and power delivery.

Donington’s infamous stop-go Melbourne Loop at the end of the lap is the main problem. Neither Nakano nor Hofmann are happy in this section and, while the fast and sweeping opening part of the lap is also important, it is the run to the finish line that is of most concern.

Nakano made changes to both rear end and front fork settings in a bid to cure his problems, but says he is still some way from an ideal race set-up. On acceleration off the slower corners both riders have trouble keeping the front end down, and Kawasaki engineers are looking at revised engine management settings to change the power characteristics to suit the track better.

Although he raced a 500cc two-stroke here two years ago, Hofmann is a rookie in the 990cc MotoGP class at Donington, and his learning curve is a steep one.

But the determined young German made dramatic progress today by slicing two seconds from his best time in free practice during the one hour qualifying session.

Nakano dropped his time by 1.4s this afternoon. Both riders are confident there is more to come in tomorrow’s final qualifying session, and are contributing to the detailed debriefs with Kawasaki engineers.

Shinya Nakano: 17th (1:31.164)

“It’s been a strange and difficult today for me. I did my fastest time on a race tyre, but could not improve my times on soft qualifiers. Perhaps this is good for the race, but I need to be starting much closer to the front. One problem here is that we have no data for the new ZX-RR at this track, so we have a lot of set-up work still to do. For the race braking stability is very important, especially in the final corners, and this will be our focus tomorrow. We also need to look at the engine tuning, in a bid to stop the wheelie problem on acceleration out of the slow corners.”

Alex Hofmann: 19th (1:31.575)

“This is not an easy track for us. The fast section is not so bad, but the final three slow corners in the Loop are really hurting us; at the moment our bike doesn’t like the stop-go part too much. It is difficult to have the engine in the right part of the power curve and keep the front end down. The new track surface is much smoother than I remember from two years ago. Everyone in the team is giving it 100% and, hopefully, tomorrow we can make even more progress.”

Harald Eckl: Team Manager
“Today has been a difficult day for both riders, but we’ve been in this position before and bounced back on the second day of qualifying, and I’m confident that we can turn things around tomorrow. This is our first time at Donington with the new version of the Ninja ZX-RR, so we knew we’d have a certain amount of set-up work to do. Hopefully, tomorrow, we can find a good base setting in practice and then start working towards fast laps in qualifying.”


More, from a press release issued by Repsol:


Nicky Hayden flies law over Donington and sets his first provisional pole
The rider of the Repsol Honda Team arrives in England filled with confidence after his third place in Germany.

Without hardly any rest and only five days after the German Grand Prix, the World Championship has returned to activity today in England. The day has been quite positive for the interests of the Repsol riders under the sunny skies of the first practice day. In the premier class, Nicky Hayden seems to have taken a liking to the front row of the grid and after setting the second fastest time in the free practice, behind Valentino Rossi, he decided to swap places with the Italian in the afternoon and took the provisional pole. This is the first ever provisional pole of the North American Repsol Honda Team rider, who after his third place in Germany last weekend arrived in England with the clear intention to stay on the podium.

His teammate Alex Barros, had problems with the settings – his bike raises too much in the front when accelerating – and he will have to wait until tomorrow to get a place in the front row of the starting grid. Seventh fastest in the morning, the Brazilian rider finished tenth in the afternoon, meaning a provisional start from the fourth row of the grid. Rubén Xaus, on a circuit he knows perfectly well due to the many races as a Superbike rider, suffered a light crash in the morning that didn’t hinder him however from setting the fifteenth fastest time in the free practice and the eleventh in the afternoon’s timed practice.

Repsol rider´s comments

Nicky Hayden: “I’m just trying to have fun, enjoy it and keep the momentum we have at the moment. ”


Nicky Hayden 1st, 1:29.295, 29 laps:

“Pretty happy really. I didn’t think it would be quite that good. I know it’s only Friday but it’s great to be in this position. I haven’t been fastest in a session all year and I really wanted it today. It’s early in the weekend – these guys get faster and faster. I just got my head down and tried to stick in a fast one. I’m sure tomorrow the others will really pick up the pace – I just want to be ready to make the next step. The race set-up is not so bad. I want to be ready to make something happen in the race. We’ve been pretty close recently. I’m just trying to have fun, enjoy it and keep the momentum we have at the moment.”

Alex Barros 10th, 1:30.269, 30 laps:

“Not a great day. This morning was a little difficult. We had a problem with one engine and we lost a lot of time. The big problem we have at the moment is with the wheelie. We don’t have the balance of the machine correct and every time I accelerate hard the front is in the air. We have made adjustments to make it better and it is in the right direction but we still have much work to do. When we put on the qualification tyre we have the same problem so we don’t use to it’s advantage. We still have a lot of work to do for tomorrow.”

Rubén Xaus 11th, 1:30.305, 25 laps:

“I’m happy in general terms, although I crashed this morning; but I think that it was because I was using harder tyres than I thought and I didn’t warm them up enough. It had no important consequences and I was able to get back to the garage to continue with the second bike. In cases like this you hardly manage to feel comfortable on the second bike and you loose the rhythm. I had some electronic problems in the afternoon and I finally took the qualifying tyres for the second bike, which was the one I wasn’t convinced of, but I set a good time and I’m one second behind the pole. I think that the place is quite good and we still have a whole day to work.”


More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:


Suzuki pair challenge the Donington curves

Team Suzuki MotoGP riders Kenny Roberts Jr and John Hopkins were 12th and 13th fastest in today’s first timed session for Sunday’s British GP, each finding different problems that they need to solve before tomorrow’s final qualifying hour.

For Roberts, there was nothing specific to cause an unexpected set-back after qualifying on the front row of the grid for the last two rounds, including pole position in Brazil. He blamed the special nature of the fully resurfaced 4.023km Donington Park circuit for highlighting areas that need technical improvement before he can make another front-row attack.

Hopkins had different difficulties. One came from his injured ankle, hurt pre-season and increasingly giving problems as the year wears on. The other was a disappointing performance from the soft-compound qualifying tyres. He had been well on the pace on race tyres, but failed to make the required improvement on qualifiers to maintain his grid position.

Today’s first practice took place in breezy but warm and dry conditions, after drenching rain flooded parts of the circuit and paddock last night. In line with the overall higher pace this year, and aided by a resurface to the East Midlands circuit’s full length, lap times had dropped dramatically this year compared with last, with provisional pole time fully 1.4 seconds faster than last year.

Roberts was absent from last year’s race, but Hopkins’s time so far is already more than 1.5 seconds faster than his best from last year, with one more day to go. This shows that the Suzukis have improved at least as much as the opposition in the last 12 months, and possibly even more. Direct comparisons are impossible, because last year Hopkins was using the class-leading Michelin tyres, while this year the team is using tyres from relative new arrivals Bridgestone.

There is one more day of practice and qualifying before Sunday’s race, the ninth of 16 GPs this year, and the last round before a three-weekend summer break.

Kenny Roberts Jr. – 12th position, 1:30.366

I think we’re certainly struggling at the moment. I feel every bit of a second from pole position. So far I just haven’t got anything to feel good out there, to help me see what the bike needs so it can work consistently. At the last couple of race-tracks we’ve really been able to put our finger on things that we needed to improve in specific areas. Here it seems that the negative points we were able to control at the last races are amplified. It’s just the character of the circuit, and we’re down a little on the tyre side. Everything’s just kinda needs a jump start here. We have a lot of work of to do overnight.

John Hopkins- 13th position, 1:30.422

My biggest issue here is my ankle, and straight after this I’m flying to the US to see my surgeon. The metalwork in there is all kind of bunched up, and the tendons are catching on one of the bolt heads. It’s been difficult all along, but as I’ve got fitter and stronger it’s got worse. Now it’s like having a sprained ankle every time I get off the bike. Aside from that, we’re good on race tyres. I was doing six-lap runs comfortably in the low 31s. Maybe we need a little bit more speed to run with the leaders, but I was one of the most consistent guys out there, and I’m happy about that. But it turns out our qualifying tyres aren’t up to par on this track. It’s disappointing to be running such a strong race pace, but to lose so much on grid positions because of that.


More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda/Gresini Racing:


Good feeling at Donington

The Telefónica MoviStar Honda team arrive at the British Grand Prix in good spirits and confident of getting back to winning ways after two difficult Grands Prix. Sete Gibernau has demonstrated that he still has faith in is own ability whilst C