From a press release issued by Red Bull – KTM:

The World Championship Road Racing Circus moved this weekend to the cold France. The KTM riders in the morning of the first day of practice showed again the potentiality of their FRR motorbikes. Unfortunately both riders crashed in the afternoon but without any serious consequences. Stoner finished 9th while Kallio finished 14th.

Stoner – It was a place were you normally can open the gas without problem. I have been to the Mobile Clinic because I thought the shoulder was broken but it’s not: it was just the impact. Maybe tomorrow I’ll not be 100% fit but of course I’ll do my best.

Kallio – I made a mistake in the corner…I come back to the pit box but with the second bike I couldn’t make anything better. I hope tomorrow to improve my time in order to start the race from the first rows! Basically the bike is fine and if its not raining I think I can finish among the first ones.

Bartol – Both riders crashed because they made a mistake: it happens! Casey gas it too early with new tyres on, while Mika made the corner wrong. I hope tomorrow they will both be fine!


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

CHECA ON PROVISIONAL FRENCH FRONT ROW AND ROSSI SEVENTH

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Carlos Checa took full advantage of a dry and sunny first qualifying session at the Le Mans circuit today, putting himself in provisional third position for Sunday’s race after a string of consistently fast laps. Meanwhile, reigning World Champion and team-mate Valentino Rossi spent his first time on the M1 machine at the French circuit trying to overcome some minor set-up problems, finishing provisional seventh.

Checa, who was third fastest in this morning’s free practice, took the lead on his tenth lap of the hour-long qualifying session. Moments later he relinquished the top spot to Honda rider Colin Edwards, before taking it back again with 20 minutes remaining when he posted his fastest lap of 1:34.207. Rossi moved up to third place with 14 minutes to go, before finishing the day in seventh with a time of 1:34.307. In the dying stages Checa was pushed down to third as Edwards took the lead once more with a new circuit best lap of 1:33.870 and then Nicky Hayden (Honda) jumped into second with a time of 1:33.966. Yamaha compatriot Marco Melandri (1:34.260), Sete Gibernau (Honda – 1:34.288) and Makoto Tamada (Honda – 1:34.303) finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

CARLOS CHECA (3rd – 1:34.207)

“I feel quite good today; the bike felt quite different and had improved feeling. We’ve been changing a few settings and my lap times are already good, but I need more grip at the front. The new track surface is really nice; I appreciate what they’ve done. The only risky area is the chicanes, where I crashed three years ago. If someone crosses them or crashes you end up with gravel on the track – like what happened with the 125’s this morning. Anyway, hopefully we’ll make the small changes I need for tomorrow and hopefully I can stay up at the top.”

VALENTINO ROSSI (7th – 1:34.307)

“I had some problems today and I couldn’t ride the way I wanted to – at 100%. I’m mainly having braking problems and the bike doesn’t feel stable. We’ve made some changes to the front and some changes to the back but I still can’t improve. Towards the end we made some positive steps, but not enough. The Yamaha corners well and is very agile, but we’re still a way behind the others. The fact that Carlos and Marco are doing well gives me confidence and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

ANTONIO JIMENEZ – CARLOS CHECA’S CREW CHIEF

“Carlos definitely likes this track – he normally does well here, although he didn’t finish some races here in the past due to unfortunate circumstances. We started with the same bike set-up here as in Jerez. Carlos did a few laps this morning and liked it immediately so the changes we made were very slight and this is definitely the solution. He needs a little bit more stability in the front tyre and, if we can find this tomorrow without making any big changes, then for sure he can fight again for the front row.”


More, from a press release issued by d’Antin Ducati:

Good start for Xaus and Hodgson

Le Mans (France), 14.05.04 The d´Antin MotoGP riders enjoyed a satisfactory first day of qualifying for the French Grand Prix today, working hard to prepare their machines as well as possible for Sunday’s race.

Rubén Xaus qualified thirteenth fastest, just over a second off provisional pole position, whilst Neil Hodgson found himself back in nineteenth – both riders demonstrating that they can be competitive on their first visit to Le Mans with the Ducati Desmosedici.

RUBEN XAUS was in relaxed mood as he looked forward to the two remaining sessions tomorrow: “The circuit has changed a lot since the last time I was here but I generally I have felt comfortable here. The sun shone today and I was able to work as I like, although I’m still lacking experience – especially with the qualification tyre. Everything takes time and there is no need to rush – we have reshuffled the team and we are working towards the objective of getting amongst the top ten on a regular basis, but first of all we have to consolidate what we’ve got.”

NEIL HODGSON had been hoping for a higher initial grid position but is confident of making up ground tomorrow: “Obviously the position isn’t satisfactory but you have to put things into context. I could have ended the day higher up but I was held up by traffic when I put the soft tyre on and I couldn’t get a clean lap. We’ve worked hard on the set-up for the race but we have a lot of room for improvement and hopefully things will go better tomorrow.”

TIMES:

1st C.Edwards 1.33.870
2nd N.Hayden 1.33.966
3rd C.Checa 1.34.207
4th M.Melandri 1.34.260
5th S.Gibernau 1.34.288

13th RUBÉN XAUS 1.35.041
19th NEIL HODGSON 1.35.721


More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

NAKANO SHOWS HIS PACE AS HOFMANN SUFFERS FRUSTRATION

Fuchs Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano waited until the dying moments of this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s French Grand Prix, before stopping the clock with a time of 1:34.381 to finish ninth fastest and claim a position on the third row of the provisional grid.

While Nakano’s day ended on a high, the opening day at Le Mans was one of frustration for his Fuchs Kawasaki teammate, Alex Hofmann. The 23-year-old German rider struggled to find a set up he was comfortable with this morning; a problem exacerbated by a couple of minor technical glitches with his Ninja ZX-RR machines.

Determined to give their rider the best possible package for this afternoon’s qualifying session, Hofmann’s pit crew worked flat out between practices; changing engines, gearboxes and chassis settings on his two Ninja ZX-RR machines in a bid to give the Fuchs Kawasaki rider a base set up from which he could work.

But it was to no avail. Despite the changes offering minor improvements, Hofmann still didn’t feel confident enough with the set up to push his Ninja ZX-RR to the limit during this afternoon’s hour long qualifying session, with the result that he ended a disappointing 18th fastest. Despite the problems, Hofmann remains confident that, together with his crew, he can find a solution during tomorrow’s final practice and qualifying sessions.

Eager to test the new track surface here at Le Mans, Shinya Nakano was one of the first out on track for morning practice, where it immediately became apparent to the 26-year-old Japanese rider that additional grip doesn’t always equate to faster lap times. Problems with the rear pumping out of the turns meant that Nakano ended the session further down the time sheet than expected.

Changes made by Nakano’s pit crew to the number 56 Ninja ZX-RR immediately after free practice improved matters for the start of this afternoon’s first qualifying session, with the popular Japanese rider immediately improving on his previous best time. The improvements continued throughout the session until, with less than one minute of timed practice remaining, the Fuchs Kawasaki rider flashed across the line aboard his Ninja ZX-RR to claim ninth position on the provisional grid.

With just half a second separating the top nine riders on the provisional grid, tomorrow’s final qualifying session at Le Mans promises to be the closest seen so far this season.

Shinya Nakano: 9th (1:34.381)
“We had a few problems with the rear pumping this morning, maybe as a result of the increased grip levels offered by the new track surface. We made some changes to the rear of the bike this afternoon to combat this problem, but while it definitely felt better during qualifying, I think there is still room for us to make further improvements in this area tomorrow. I didn’t feel so confident braking from high speed this morning, but again, we managed to sort that out before the start of this afternoon’s qualifying session. Today we’ve tested two specifications of engine, but one definitely seems to offer an advantage over the other, so we’ll stick with this for the next two days. Tomorrow we’ll try to identify a good race tyre, as well as further improving the overall handling of the bike.”

Alex Hofmann: 18th (1:35.718)
“I wish we could start today again to be honest. We haven’t really made the progress with the bike we were hoping to during today’s two practice sessions. For some reason the bike just hasn’t felt right on track today, and whatever changes we tried didn’t seem to improve things. We need to go through the data tonight to see if we can identify where we can make improvements. Although we’re now under pressure to get everything sorted in the limited track time we have available tomorrow, I have the utmost confidence in my crew and I’m sure they’ll pull something out of the bag once again.”


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

Makoto and Max finish first qualifying
with 6th and 8th fastest times

First qualifying session for the French GP and the times are already at an incredible level. The lap times are one and a half seconds quicker than last season, with a new asphalt surface proving significantly better than before. Max Biaggi was fastest in the morning free practice with a lap faster than last year’s pole position time. Later in the afternoon qualifying session, the lap times came down towards the end, and the two Camel Honda stars Makoto Tamada and Max Biaggi eventually finished in 6th and 8th positions respectively. Tomorrow’s sessions will prove crucial in order to fine-tune the bike’s set-up, so the riders can acheive a rhythm which will serve them well in the race.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“They were exceptional lap times today. The power of the MotoGP machines and the new track covering meant that today the riders were about a second and a half quicker than last year. In the free practice, Max was faster than last year’s pole, and then in the qualifying session he brought that down again by nearly a second. It wasn’t enough though to be at the top of the provisional standings after the first practices. Therefore we still have to close the gap to the front runners, although in the race I think it would be difficult to to keep that kind of pace up. We need to work towards a constant race rhythm as our main objective, but also we need to get a fast lap in so we get a good start position.”

Max Biaggi – Camel Honda (Michelin Tyres) – 8th – 1:34.328
“The new asphalt is a lot less slippy, and so we didn’t see the usual practice day of people making their choices, as is usual. Tomorrow we will see who is really quick and who has the bike set up well. We have worked hard with the team to get the best race set-up and to be ready for the 28 laps of the race. After the qualifying session my mechanics and I talked at length, so we could study all the data and be more consistent tomorrow. We have to make the bike give away less, so all the power is transferred to the track perfectly.”

Gianluca Montiron – Camel Honda – (Makoto Tamada Team Manager)
“The two test days after the Jerez race were especially useful for Makoto Tamada and we made the most of it. He was quick straight away this morning and also got involved at the top end during a high-speed qualifying session. Race pace will make the difference and knowing how to keep the same rhythm as the front group. The final practice sessions will be useful to improve the race performance and to move up the grid for Sunday.”

Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda (Bridgestone Tyres) – 6th – 1:34.303
“The track is ‘softer’ and not as bumpy as last year, thanks to the new asphalt. I’m lapping well and quick too, and I’m satisfied with the bike, although obviously we need to improve the set-up for this type of track and for the race. Tyre selection has gone okay too, I’ve picked out a tyre from before that I like a lot and I want to find an optimum set-up so I can get the best out of it in the race. Just by completely concentrating on the set-up of the tyres for the race I perhaps haven’t made the most of the bike in its qualifying mode. But tomorrow we will try it.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Poggiali third fastest in France

MS Aprilia Racing’s Manuel Poggiali got his French 250 GP bid off to a flying start as he qualified on the provisional front row of the grid.

The San Marino rider ended today’s opening session with the third fastest time as he goes in search of his and Aprilia’s opening victory of the 2004 world 250 championship campaign. He set a best time of 1.38.661 on his last lap of the session and said: “We were working a lot on the bike in preparation for the race. The bike is very competitive and with Rassano Brazzi we have no problems and I have a good feeling with the bike.”

Poggiali arrived in France motivated and determined to kickstart the defence of his world 250 championship. He added: ” “The level of this year’s championship is very high and all I want to do is score some better results. The level is high, especially with the French riders who are always very strong in Le Mans. I’m not looking at the world championship rankings because there are only two races of the season gone and everything is still wide open. It is not important to make a very fast time in free practice or qualifying because it is the race that is the most important, and you only score points when you pass the chequered flag.

Poggiali is still looking for his first podium of 2004, but he is confident he will be able to challenge for the top three in Sunday’s race. “I want to have a better result than last year and I want to be the first rider to win a race this season for Aprilia in the world 250 championship. For sure, the first two races did not go according to plan or how I expected. In South Africa I had a problem with the tyre and in Jerez I made a mistake. In France I’m here to do much better and really start my season.”

Poggiali is now hoping that the weather stays fine to allow him to fine tune his set-up in tomorrow’s final free practice and qualifying sessions. “I really hope we get sunny conditions for the race. Without the rain we can confiirm what we have learnt today rather than starting again.”


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

McWilliams 17th as Byrne braves the pain.

Jeremy McWilliams is confident of scoring his first MotoGP world championship points of the season after qualifying his MS Aprilia Racing Cube in 17th position in Le Mans this afternoon.

The experienced British rider spent most of today working on a race set-up for Sunday’s French GP, but he also completed several crucial development laps using Aprilia’s new heavier crank, which first appeared at the Spanish GP earlier this month. Torrential rain in Jerez restricted the track time McWilliams could evaluate the engine modification, but he was happy to properly assess the crank in far more favourable conditions on a newly resurfaced track in Le Mans.

“Finally I got some serious time to try out the revised engine without any rain and on a track that has a new surface, “said McWilliams, who ended with a best time of 1.35.627. “I had a lot of fun riding the bike today and we have concentrated on working on a race set-up. My target is to pick up some points and I know it is possible if the weather stays the same.”

Team-mate Shane Byrne bravely tried to shrug aside the pain of a broken right hand to qualify his Cube in 20th position on the provisional grid.

The British rider only had a lightweight cast removed yesterday by Clinica Mobile medical staff, less than two weeks after he broke a bone in his right hand following a crash on the opening lap of a rain-lashed Spanish GP at Jerez. The 27-year-old, making his debut this morning at the famous Bugatti circuit, which hosts the French GP for the 17th time this weekend, ended this afternoon’s opening hour-long qualifying session with a best time of 1.36.543.

“The hand is giving me a lot of pain, particularly under braking. I’m having to use all my strength just to grip the handlebars and it is almost impossible to go any faster or control the bike. It is a big problem when the bike slides as well, but I’ll get some more treatment from the doctors and try again tomorrow, “said Byrne, who has been undergoing phsyiotherapy and pain-killing injections to ease the pain.


More, from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:

Alex ninth as he tries to conquer Le Mans

Aprilia Racing rider Alex de Angelis spent the opening day of the French GP trying to adapt his RSW250 to the famous Bugatti circuit.

The San Marino rider is not a big fan of the stop/start nature of the 4.18km circuit, and he finished today’s opening qualifying session in ninth position with a best time of 1.39.412. He set that time on his 19th lap, and was set to post a much faster time on his last lap when he ran off the track at the final Esses.

“At the end of the session my last lap was going to be my fastest but there was a lot of traffic. I came to the final esses before the start and finish straight and I got in there very fast but ran wide and into the dirt. Luckily I managed to stay on the bike, “said de Angelis, who has finished in the top six in his first two world 250 championship races.

Despite his late off-track excursion. Alex is confident of improvements tomorrow having spent a large part of today testing Dunlop tyres. “I don’t really like Le Mans but I have been working on a lot of diffferent solutions for the race. I tried a lot of tyres and if the weather is the same for tomorrow then I’m sure I can improve, “added Alex.


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

Small problems at Proton’s first birthday

Nobuatsu Aoki: 21st, 1:36.18
Kurtis Roberts: 22nd, 1:37.800

Small but vexing problems at the first public outing of the revised-firing-order Proton KR V5 engine combined to prevent riders Nobuatsu Aoki and Kurtis Roberts from improving their qualifying positions. But with one day of practice remaining, both were confident of more tomorrow.

The Proton KR V5 is one year old this weekend, after making its track debut in practice for the French GP last year. But this year’s machine is significantly changed, with more changes coming race by race.

The chassis is new this year; and this race sees the first race-meeting tests of a different firing order, tried for the first time at tests after the Spanish GP, two weeks ago. As well as a new five-into-five exhaust system, the revised engine also has a very different sound from the original version.

The latest variation arrived just in time for this race weekend – a motor with bore and stroke revised, to give a less oversquare configuration. “This makes it less like a car F1 engine, and more like a motorcycle engine,” explained team principal Kenny Roberts. That engine, fresh from dyno bench testing, was fitted to one of Kurtis’s machines, but unrelated difficulties in the afternoon meant he was not able to do more than a few laps.

One more day of qualifying remains for Sunday’s French GP, the third round of the season. Today’s provisional pole time was set by Colin Edwards (Honda).

Nobuatsu Aoki
We have the new firing order, and that’s better for turning in to the corners, with less engine braking. At tests, there was a hole in the power curve, and that is coming better now. But we had many many small problems today. One engine ran well in the morning, but the power went a bit strange at the end of that session. This afternoon we improved it again, but it’s still not right. Also we have a lot of new tyres to test, and I haven’t found a race tyre yet. At the end I fitted a soft qualifying tyre, but that had some problem, so I didn’t get a fast qualifying lap this afternoon.

Kurtis Roberts
Both bikes were good this morning, and I finally got quite a few laps in. In the afternoon a lot of stupid little things meant I hardly got any successive laps, and nothing on soft tyres. One problem with the new engine was strange – the front-wheel speed sensor wire was damaged and shorting out, and that sent the engine management crazy, so that it would open the throttle mid-corner. I finished the session on my spare bike. Tomorrow will be a lot better. It has to be.


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:


Ducati Marlboro men make steady start at Le Mans

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Troy Bayliss and Loris Capirossi commenced their French GP weekend in 12th and 14th places this afternoon. Not the most auspicious of starts, but the team is convinced that it is getting closer to working out exactly what’s needed to get its Desmosedici GP4s back up front.

“We are definitely improving, but so is everyone else. that’s racing!,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “The bike still isn’t giving its maximum potential, so at the moment we are working on settings, trying to get the bike to its best. The only real change here is that Loris is now using Michelin’s 16.5in front tyre, and he is happy with it. The riders’ main concern is front-end confidence in the middle and the exit of corners. That doesn’t mean the area of concern is the front end of the bike, so we’re trying to work out exactly what it is that we need to improve to give them what they need. It’s just a matter of time”.

The Ducati Marlboro Team stays on to test at Le Mans on Monday.

Bayliss 12th and getting better
Troy Bayliss is already closer to the front than he was at the two season-opening GPs and he believes he can get more performance out of his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4 over the next two days.

“We’ve made a little bit of progress,” said the Australian. “We’ll keep pushing on and see what we can do. This bike really needs a specific set-up for each track, so we’re just working on finding a set-up for here; sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. It’s a bit of a grind but we’re hoping we can get things better for tomorrow.”

Capirossi mistimes qualifier run
Loris Capirossi ended up an uncharacteristic 14th quickest this afternoon after mistiming his qualifying-tyre run. But like Bayliss the Ducati Marlboro Team man believes that he is making steady forward progress with his Desmosedici GP4.

“We’re working hard, and I don’t think our race pace is so bad,” said the Italian. “The only really new part I have here is the 16.5in front tyre, instead of the 17, but overall I’d say we’re in better shape than we were at Jerez. I wasn’t able to make the most of my qualifying tyre run today because I went too soon and got held up by some slower riders. The main thing is that I am confident we can improve tomorrow and be close to the others on race pace.”