THREE MAN SQUAD FOR KAWASAKI AT GERMAN GRAND PRIX The Kawasaki Racing Team will field a three man squad on factory Ninja ZX-RRs in the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring this weekend. Frenchman Olivier Jacque will boost the team as a wild card entry, joining regular riders Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann. Jacque was recently signed as a test and development rider by Kawasaki and his German Grand Prix appearance is part of that programme, which combines both testing and racing. The 31-year-old Frenchman is already a familiar face at Kawasaki, with two impressive race appearances for the Japanese factory earlier in the season at the Chinese and French Grand Prix races. Jacque’s brilliant wet weather performance for second place at Shanghai in the Chinese Grand Prix delivered Kawasaki’s best-ever result so far in MotoGP. And, although Jacque has not raced at the Sachsenring for two years, he has a high success rate at the hillside German circuit. At the 2002 MotoGP race Jacque qualified on pole position for the German Grand Prix, ahead of teammate Nakano, Max Biaggi and Alex Barros, with Valentino Rossi sixth on the grid. In 2000, on his way to winning the 250cc World Championship, Jacque scored the Sachsenring double – pole position and race win! With both Nakano and Hofmann very strong performers at Sachsenring the Kawasaki squad has a formidable line-up, for what is regarded as its second home race of the season. The Kawasaki-Eckl team’s European base is at Vohenstrauss, in south-east Germany. At the Sachsenring last year Nakano qualified fifth, just 0.25s off pole position, and finished a strong seventh in the race. German young gun Hofmann, again set to race before a strong home crowd, was an impressive tenth in 2004 after starting from sixteenth position. The current Sachsenring hosted its first Grand Prix event in 1998, although the layout was altered in 2001 and the 3.6 km track is now a combination of ten left-hand corners and only four rights, linked by short straights. The rear tyre gets a heavy work-out at this track, which features steep, up and down sections with its hillside location. The 30-lap race will be the tenth round of the MotoGP World Championship. Shinya Nakano: #56 “The Sachsenring is a very technical circuit and one of my favourites, so I’m aiming for good results like last year. The final section with the high-speed right corner, downhill section and then uphill onto the straight is critical to a fast lap time and I really like this part of the track. Our team is based in Germany, so this is always a special weekend and I’m keen to make-up for the disappointment of last week’s British Grand Prix when I crashed because of a clutch problem.” Alex Hofmann: #66 “It’s my home race and I’ve heard it is virtually sold out, so there should be a great atmosphere at the track. I’m going there to enjoy it and not feel any pressure, but with the ZX-RR running the way it is I hope to give the fans something to cheer about. The key to Sachsenring is tyre edge grip feeling, especially for all the long left corners; the bike is on maximum lean angle a long time. The track is short, technical and physical and I would like to back-up my eighth place at the British Grand Prix last Sunday with another good result.” Olivier Jacque: #19 “This will only be my third Grand Prix of the season, but it’s going to be great to be back with Kawasaki, especially at a track where I have some good memories. I’ve been training hard and this race is really the beginning of my programme as test rider, so I’m looking forward to the challenge, and working with the team to further improve the ZX-RR. It is already a very strong package and I think it will feel at home at the Sachsenring.” Harald Eckl: Team Manager “OJ’s presence will strengthen the team and we have already seen what he is capable of this season. We are optimistic for a good performance here, as Sachsenring should be compatible with the latest ZX-RR package – both engine and handling set-up – however tyre performance will again be a critical factor. Shinya is always strong at this track and Alex will have a lot of support to finish ten top again like he did at Donington.”