DUCATI TEAM IN MALAYSIA TO CONTINUE WORK ON THE GP11.1 The Ducati Team left Australia Monday, and after a 24 hour break, its members are ready to get back to work on the GP11.1 for the Malaysian GP. Sepang is one of the widest tracks on the calendar, reaching a width of 16 metres in parts, and the asphalt temperature is often very high due to the tropical climate. The layout is varied, with a little of everything: two spots where riders reach sixth gear, but others that are technical and taken in first. Some corners are negotiated at high speed, and in others the bike is nearly stopped. Since its MotoGP debut, the Ducati Team has achieved three wins and one additional podium at Sepang. Valentino Rossi, who counts the track among his favourites, has six wins and three additional podiums, while Nicky Hayden has never finished in the top three but has always been very fast, with five fourth-place finishes in his career, along with one fifth and a sixth. VALENTINO ROSSI, Ducati Team “I like the Sepang circuit a lot, although the weather conditions are always extreme. We didn’t have much good luck in Australia, and we also had to work harder than expected on the bike’s setup. We hope to do better here in Malaysia starting on Friday. Anyway, we’ll also be able to verify where we are compared to the tests that we did here last year. We tested many days at Sepang, and it will be interesting to compare things now with what we had then.” NICKY HAYDEN, Ducati Team “The conditions in Malaysia are typically hot and steamy, very different from what we had at Phillip Island on Sunday. The Sepang circuit has a good mix of everything, so you need the bike to do everything well. There are some long straightaways where you need a fast bike that brakes well, along with some fast corners, like Turns 5 and 6 and a section in the back. On the other hand, there are also some slow little hairpins, so it’s a good mix of everything that really challenges a rider and bike. It will be interesting to get back on this track after spending a lot of time here in February. The bike has changed a lot, so we’ll see what kind of progress we’ve actually made.” VITTORIANO GUARESCHI, Team Manager “Here in Malaysia, we’ll continue working on the GP11.1, both for the race and in order to gather information for our work program with an eye toward 2012. The conditions will be opposite to those in Australia. It’s very challenging from a physical point of view, both for the riders and for the team, which is working extremely hard on many fronts in this final part of the season. The Desmosedici that will take to the track on Friday is different from the one we used in the winter tests, and this event will let us make some interesting comparisons with the data that we collect.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Familiar territory awaits Tech 3 Yamaha in Malaysia The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team returns to familiar territory this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship, with Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow ready for their third visit of the year to the fast and technical Sepang circuit in Malaysia. After testing twice at the Sepang circuit during the pre-season schedule in February, Edwards and Crutchlow are confident they can put the set-up information collected over six punishing days to good use when precious World Championship points are at stake in Sunday’s 20-lap race. The Sepang race is undoubtedly the most mentally and physically demanding on the 18-round calendar, with extreme conditions experienced at the 5.548km track seeing air temperatures capable of nudging 40 degrees. Add in the gruelling humidity and the race, which takes places on the second longest track of the season, is a stern test of stamina and concentration. Edwards arrives in Malaysia full of confidence and in peak physical condition to cope with the intense heat and humidity after he raced to a fantastic fifth place in the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island on Sunday. His third top six finish of the campaign helped the 37-year-old take a giant leap towards finishing top non-factory rider in the championship and he is currently a healthy 15-points clear of Hiroshi Aoyama. Edwards has already bettered his 2010 points tally with two rounds remaining and although Sepang has not been a favourite venue for the American in the past, he is optimistic he can improve on his best result of eighth in 2008. Crutchlow has also arrived in Malaysia in determined mood, the British rider keen to make amends for an unlucky crash in Phillip Island just four days ago that cost him the chance of scoring a hard earned top 10 finish. Crutchlow fell heavily while battling for eighth position but he has been given a clean bill of health for this weekend. He is bidding to battle for another top 10 as the contest for the coveted Rookie of the Year prize intensifies. Crutchlow holds a slender one-point advantage over Karel Abraham going into round 17. When he tested at Sepang in February, Crutchlow was still acclimatising himself with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine and understanding how to alter his riding style from World Superbikes. Eight months later and he is armed with a lot more experience and confident he can push for the top 10 again before his impressive roo kie season concludes at the traditional season finale in Valencia next month. Colin Edwards, 9th – 109 points: “Sepang sometimes feels like a second home because we spend so much time here and I practically know every inch of the track like the back of my hand. It is a long and technical track but obviously everybody talks about the weather conditions here. There’s no doubt that the heat and humidity is really punishing and it doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been coming here, you never got used to it. All you can do is drink lots of water to keep yourself hydrated and try and conserve as much as energy as possible for the race. Last weekend was a great result and if I can repeat that it would be absolutely awesome. Although I’ve done a million laps round Sepang, I’ve never come away with a decent result, so I’m looking to change that on Sunday. I’m coming to the end of my time with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and I really want to finish on a high because it has been an amazing spell in my career.” Cal Crutchlow, 13th – 57 points: “To be honest the two tests at the beginning of the year weren’t easy at all. Sepang is not only difficult from a physical point of view with the heat and humidity but the circuit was incredibly hard to learn. It is long and very wide, so even though I’ve been here twice before on the YZR-M1, I’m expecting a tough weekend. Physically I’m fine after Phillip Island. I’ve got a few bumps and bruises but what hurt more is that I could have had an eighth place and that’s a shame because those points would have been good for the Championship. Since I was here in Sepang earlier in the year I have gained so much experience about the bike and tyres and I’m looking f orward to picking up a strong result.” More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: FTR MOTO HEADS FOR SEPANG AFTER 2010 SUCCESS FTR MOTO returns to Sepang in Malaysia this weekend, host venue for round 16 of the Moto2 World Championship, looking to emulate last year’s performance of three riders in the top 10 in both the qualifying practice and the race. FTR had a total of just four riders last year and managed to get three in the top six of the race a year ago, a third-place, podium finish and one of the best events of its 2010 campaign. “The M210 worked well at Sepang and I’m sure, with the improvements that we’ve made to the 2011 chassis, that a similar performance in Malaysia this year is possible,” said FTR’s Steve Bones. Simon Corsi continues to head the FTR riders with fifth place in the World Championship the Ioda Racing Project rider was again in the points in Australia last Sunday to extend his run to 15 successive top 15 finishes in 2011. Blusens STX M211 rider Esteve Rabat will be keen to make amends for a first lap crash in Australia when the Spanish youngster takes to the 3.447-mile Sepang track this weekend. Rabat is ninth in the Championship while HP Tuenti Speed Up’s Pol Espargaro moved up three places in the Championship after his fifth place in Australia and sits in 13th place with the Sepang and Valencia, Spain races remaining. The MZ-FTR pair of Max Neukirchner and Anthony West crashed out early into last week’s Australian race and will look to Sepang for a return to the form that has seen them both finish in the top 10 this year. Yonny Hernandez continues his return from injury, the Colombian Blusens STX rider finished 24th in Australia and will look to improve on that in Malaysia on Sunday. Corsi’s Ioda team-mate Mattia Pasini could climb from 22nd place into the top 10 of the Championship with two strong finishes in the last two rounds with the Italian having already shown his potential by leading races earlier in the year. Kenny Noyes (FOGI/GP Tech M211), Valentin Debise (Speed Up), Santiago Hernandez (SAG) and Aeroport de Castello’s Joan Olive arrive in Malaysia to continue the search for a first World Championship point of the year. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: PENULTIMATE APPOINTMENT OF THE SEASON FOR DE PUNIET AND CAPIREX The penultimate round of the MotoGP season takes place this weekend at the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. Pramac Racing Team arrives after the good race in Australia by Randy De Puniet, who finished sixth, and Loris Capirossi, who crossed the line in ninth place despite the shoulder pain. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “We know so well the Sepang circuit because we’ve done the test before the start of the season. It will be interesting to compare the results with those of the weekend. The track have no characteristics that may make difficult Loris with his shoulder pain. After the good race in Phillip Island we expect a lot from Randy.” Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team “I’m satisfied with what I did in Australia. I am so happy to race immediately in Malaysia, I just hope the bike will react in the same way, although I don’t like very much Sepang circuit.” ” Loris Capirossi – Pramac Racing Team ” “Sepang is one of my favorite tracks, I hope to do well. In Australia I finished in ninth place, I think I made a good result considering my physical condition. It will be a tough race, but I’m so close to the end, and I want do it in best way possible.”