2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Istanbul, Turkey April 21, 2007 Qualifying Results: 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:52.795 2. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:52.944 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:52.971 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:53.375 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:53.559 6. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:53.613 7. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:53.637 8. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:53.706 9. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:53.771 10. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:53.835 11. Olivier JACQUE (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:53.847 12. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:53.988 13. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:54.082 14. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:54.143 15. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:54.206 16. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:54.221 17. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:54.421 18. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (Honda), Michelin, 1:54.527 19. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:54.845 More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: Improvements for KONICA MINOLTA Honda during qualifying KONICA MINOLTA Honda made a significant improvement during today’s qualifying session for the Turkish GP, which will be held here at the Istanbul Park circuit tomorrow afternoon. Following a tough first day with technical problems and a crash, team rider Shinya Nakano shaved almost three seconds off his time to qualify in a hard-fought 12th place. Qualifying was another tight affair, with just a second covering 5th placed Loris Capirossi to 18th-placed Kenny Roberts Junior. The fact that none of the teams have tested at Istanbul Park and the changeable temperatures over the weekend has left a big question mark over what tyres to use for tomorrow’s 22-lap race. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “After a difficult day yesterday we have made a significant improvement today. Thanks to the time we lost yesterday, we had a lot of work to do and just in the final part of qualifying we found some good settings and I think Shinya was able to push a little bit harder with the softer qualifying tyre. Overall, he did a good job for us today. I think we will see a very exciting race tomorrow and warm-up will be important for us and many other teams as they refine settings further. It is hard to overtake here, so getting a good start and a good line into the first corner will be important. I think many teams and riders are in the same situation as regards the new tyre regulations tomorrow’s weather and track temperatures will be all important as to what we choose to run with in the race.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (43 laps 1′ 53.988″ 12th position) “We changed so much in the morning, adjusting the suspension settings, springs and spring rates as well as the tyres. Try as we might we couldn’t get a very good feeling from the bike until this afternoon when things began to feel more positive. It’s not perfect, but it has improved a lot. Tomorrow we will change a few things for morning warm-up, not great big steps, but hopefully we can find some small improvements. I still can’t carry the corner-speed I want which is our problem at the moment, but we will be trying 100% and I’m hoping to get into the top 10 at least by the chequered flag.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “It was always going to be difficult to make up the time we lost yesterday. One of the problems is the difference in temperature between the morning and afternoon sessions, so that basically a tyre that works well in the morning maybe doesn’t work so well in the afternoon. I think this is a common problem for the Michelin riders. I think we are seeing Michelin having the better qualifying tyres but maybe with Bridgestone having the edge with the race rubber at this circuit. Come the race we shall see. We have some small adjustments to do tomorrow morning and we have to finalise our rear tyre choice. This means we have a lot to do in just 20 minutes! The weather tomorrow is critical and I think it could be different again, as it has got warmer and warmer over the weekend so far. This means the weather could well make our tyre choice a little like Roulette!” More, from a press release issued by Team Roberts: NEW DIRECTION MEANS A NEW START FOR ROBERTS Istanbul Park, Turkey – April 21, 2007: Kenny Roberts Junior qualified 18th for tomorrow’s Turkish GP, after a step-change in rear suspension asked new technical questions, while circumstances robbed the team of time to answer them. The change is to the rear suspension, with significantly revised stiffness of the swing-arm. That has addressed existing grip problems and promises further improvements to come. But it will also require changes to other machine settings to achieve the correct final balance. With the first free practice session spoiled by rain, the team were still working towards a solution when the final qualifying session came around. They plan further front suspension changes in morning warm-up that they hope will improve Kenny’s chances of adding to his points score. Pole position went to Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), at 1’52.795. Kenny Roberts Jr.: 18th position, 1’54.845 We took a big gamble here, with swing-arms substantially different to anything since the first Honda Team Roberts bike. It’s an area we have never changed, that we think is related to the grip problem. It seems to help that area, but it creates a lot of problems with how I load the bike. I can load the rear harder, but the bike’s not in the right position. It’s as though it’s set up to not overload that area, because we had developed the bike not to overload the tyre. Both my qualifying tyres looked brand new at the end, which means something’s not right. Certainly, the change is the right direction. It’s just now a matter of trying to get the bike to work with those swing-arms. There is a key front fork setting that really stands out to me, so we’re going to change that tonight for the warm-up. We did a 1’55.7 on race tyres. That’s not fantastic, but it was similar to some of the other Hondas at the time. We’re just a little off, but a long way off in position. Chuck Aksland: Team Manager The swing-arms have been modified to change stiffness. Even last year he was struggling for grip, and it was one of the areas that hadn’t changed much, so we made a big jump and brought it here. The positive thing is it seems to have made some difference, but with the set-up of the bike and suspension having compensated around that weakness, it seems we need some other changes. With the first session wet, we just ran out of time. We’ll try a few steps in the morning, and hope it will improve. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Ducati duo take second row in Istanbul Round 03 Turkey Qualifying Istanbul Park, Istanbul Saturday 21 April 2007 The Ducati duo of Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi will line up in fourth and fifth on the grid for tomorrow afternoon’s Turkish Grand Prix, the highest placed Bridgestone-shod riders in this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Istanbul Park circuit. Stoner has dominated the free practice sessions setting the benchmark race pace in the low-mid 1m54s, but with durability the major decisive factor in tomorrow afternoon’s race, Bridgestone will continue to discuss all available race tyre options with its five teams in order the capitalise in the notable improvements it has made since last season’s difficult Turkish GP. Having never tested with 800cc machines at the Istanbul track, a lot of decisions have rested on data collected from previous races and meticulous evaluation of front and rear specification tyres has been required in each of the four sessions so far this weekend. Time has been a precious commodity and has prevented Bridgestone from conducting a complete 22-lap race simulation with any of its teams, which leaves a question mark over the tyre performance during the entire race. Bridgestone remains pleased with progress so far, a feeling shared by its riders and teams. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Did the qualifying results this afternoon meet your expectations? “We cannot be satisfied with today’s results because we are not on the front row and it is clear that we still have work to do to improve the general performance of our qualifying tyres. However, this is something that we are addressing and trying to achieve on a race-by-race basis. We brought a new specification rear qualifying tyre here this weekend, which is an improvement on its predecessor but the gap to the front row was more evident here than in the previous two races. Nevertheless, we have Casey and Loris on the second row for Ducati and both Suzukis in the top ten, two bikes that have shown good potential in race trim.” How is the race pace of the Bridgestone tyres? “It has been difficult to truly understand how our tyres will perform over the 22 lap race distance because we have spent our time gathering as much information as possible from the various specs we have selected. In this morning’s practice session, we carried out a medium length run which showed that our level of performance is generally better than last season. As expected, the lack of testing at this track has left us with a number of tyre options all of which need to be carefully analysed. The track is continuing to improve as more rubber is laid down on the surface, so we must think ahead to correctly predict what conditions will face us tomorrow afternoon, rather than rely solely on the conditions that we experienced throughout today. We must sit down with our teams and riders to assess the options available for before our final race tyre selection.” Riding Perspective Casey Stoner Ducati 4th Place “We are reasonably sure of what set-up and what tyres we are going to use for the race so we didn’t have to do too much testing this afternoon and I think we can look forward to a good battle up front. The first qualifier didn’t go too well, I wasn’t very confident with it, I ran wide and didn’t do the best effort. The second qualifier would have been a lot better but unfortunately I couldn’t get rid of a few riders before the lap. I suppose I slowed down too much trying to get rid of them, the tyres got too cold and when I started the lap the tyres were moving around a lot. As the lap went on I got a bit better but it was just my fault for taking it too easy on the out lap.” Bridgestone Qualifying Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Best Lap Gap P4 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m53.375s +0.580s P5 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m53.559s +0.764s P7 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m53.637s +0.842s P8 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m53.706s +0.911s P9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m53.771s +0.976s P10 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m53.835s +1.040s P11 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki 1m53.847s +1.052s P13 Alex Barros Pramac D’Antin 1m54.082s +1.287s P14 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m54.143s +1.348s P17 Alex Hofmann Pramac D’Antin 1m54.421s +1.626s Weather: Dry – Air 20°C, Track 34°C, Humidity 14% More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: PERFECT QUALIFYING FOR FIAT YAMAHA TEAM IN ISTANBUL Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put themselves in the best possible starting positions for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey with a one-two in today’s Official Qualifying. Shaking off the mild set-up problems they had encountered on yesterday’s dirty track, the pair worked steadily on fine-tuning their 800cc YZR-M1s throughout the majority of the hour-long session before posting the best flying laps on qualifying tyres to take the top two spots on the grid for tomorrow’s 22-lap race. With the weather staying dry once again the grip on track was considerably better than yesterday and Rossi’s eventual pole time of 1’52.795 was just inside the existing lap record, although still slightly slower than last year’s pole time. The Italian moved into pole with eight minutes remaining after his first flying lap before consolidating his position with another even faster lap on his second qualifying tyre soon after. Rossi’s second pole of the season and ninth consecutive front row start puts him in a strong position to challenge for a win at one of only three circuits on this year’s calendar where he has yet to stand on top of the podium. Edwards’ second qualifying lap of 1’52.944 was good enough for second position behind his team-mate and the American will start ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who mounted a strong challenge in the closing stages but finished 0.027 adrift of the American. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1’52.795 Laps: 24 “I’m very happy to have a pole position at this track, which has never been one of my favourites! I’ve had some bad moments here in the past but this year it feels like a different track for me and I’m having great fun! My M1 is very competitive, a lot more fun to ride here than in the past and the new modifications we have for our engine have made an important difference to our overall performance. The team has done a great job because we had some problems yesterday but they’ve found some good solutions and now Colin and I are first and second. My tyres are working well and we’ve found the right front for tomorrow. We need to make a final decision about the rear in the morning. With the qualifying tyre my bike really flew and I was able to do a very good lap; I started my first lap a few minutes earlier than the others and then I knew that I could improve a little bit more with the second qualifying tyre. Anyway all three of us are very close on the front row so I think it’s going to be a tight battle tomorrow. Let’s hope for good weather and see what happens.” Colin Edwards Position: 2nd Time: 1’52.944 Laps: 21 “Well after the problems we had yesterday I’ve got to say a massive thanks to my team. They looked at the issues, got out their protractors, did their maths and worked their magic like always! The Michelin qualifier really sticks like glue for us this year and I was able to really push it. I thought I was going to run into traffic at one point on my last lap but I just kept my head down and somehow came out the other side in front. It was definitely a mistake-free lap. As for tomorrow, we need to work a little bit on our race pace – two tenths would be good but three would be even better! I think we’re losing it in T3 so we need to concentrate on that part of the track. We’ve moved onto a different front from the ‘old faithful’ we’ve been using so far this year because that one was a little bit too close to the limit here, but it’s working really well so we just need to make a final decision on the rear. It’s a great result for the team to have us both on the front row again so let’s hope to make the most of it with a similar result tomorrow!” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Of course this is a great qualifying result for us and it’s really good to be starting tomorrow’s race like this. This year our bike is working very well and both Valentino and Colin are able to enjoy the qualifying in a way that they weren’t always able to last year. Our bike seems to be in great shape for qualifying this season as is shown by the results – Valentino has been on the front row in all three races and Colin twice. The team have done a great job as usual as they had a few problems to fix after yesterday, so well done to them. Our situation for tomorrow’s race isn’t so bad either but it’s very important to be starting in front as it’s going to be a hard battle. We have a few things to check with both riders in the warm-up tomorrow and some fine-tuning to do, but we can definitely be competitive and fight until the end.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: High hopes for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP in Turkey John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey from either end of the third row of the grid, as the two Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers qualified in seventh and ninth respectively. Both Suzuki men were regularly amongst the fastest riders on race tyres with Vermeulen clocking the third quickest time and Hopkins the sixth in this afternoon’s session, before all competitors started using qualifying tyres. Vermeulen will be starting from his best grid position of the season so far and he hopes that the improved place will give him a better chance of battling with the front runners from the start. Hopkins suffered a minor crash in this morning’s free practice session, but was unhurt during the fall. The tough Anglo-American picked himself up and was able to resume practice on his second bike as he continued preparing for Sunday’s race. Today’s qualifying was held in dry and sunny conditions with track temperatures reaching 34°C. Valentino Rossi on his factory Yamaha took pole position for tomorrow’s 22-lap race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “It’s not exactly where I wanted to start the Turkish Grand Prix, but I think from the front of the third row I can get a pretty good start. Throughout the sessions today we worked really hard on race set-up. I had a bit of a tumble this morning, but was able to quickly bounce back from that. We have found a good set-up for tomorrow’s race and I think we’ll be able to run at the front! It will be a case of getting a good start as it will be a bit difficult to pass here as it’s so slippery off-line. There are a couple of good braking spots where you might be able to get past, but it will be tough. I need to put my head down, run at the front and go for the podium!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was a much better qualifying than the previous two races – we’ve made a big step forward, not only in qualifying but in race set-up as well. The whole bike has improved over the weekend and I approached this GP a little differently, and from that we seem to have been well inside the top 10 on both days. The bike is working well and the team have done a great job with it. We’ve done a lot of laps on both front and rear Bridgestone tyres and they seem to stay very consistent so we hope they will continue to do that tomorrow. Starting from the third row will make my job a bit easier, but I still need to get through quickly and onto the front group if I want to get on that podium!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Neither John nor Chris got quite the result they wanted, but that doesn’t disguise the fact that they have improved dramatically over the weekend and equally have a good race pace. Both the guys fingers crossed look to be increasingly competitive for tomorrow’s race. Bridgestone will be slightly disappointed with the qualifying tyre performance, but they need to be congratulated for improving the grip and durability of the race tyres so dramatically which is far more important! If the guys get off the line well tomorrow I am sure they will both be in the hunt for success!” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: ELIAS AND MELANDRI READY TO CHARGE The Grand Prix of Turkey promises to be a real challenge for the Team Honda Gresini riders as they start from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid. After finding a good race pace during practice Toni Elias is counting on making a good start and making full use of the hard braking zones at the Turkish track to make up positions. The Spaniard was in spectacular form today as he lit up the circuit with a series of his trademark slides. Marco Melandri finds himself in exactly the same position as last year, when he charged from 14th on the grid to take victory in Istanbul for the second successive season. The team is working hard to make sure Marco can find the right set-up during tomorrow’s warm-up and launch another fightback in the race. TONI ELIAS (10th,1’53″835): “Tenth place is a real handicap for the race but I’ll just try and get a good start, stay calm and make up as many positions as I can. I’m quite happy because I set a good pace and this is the important thing. I’ll try and make the most of the hard-braking areas to pass people and I’m confident I can do it. The team is working well and we have a clear idea about tyre choice. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t make better use of the qualifying tyre.” MARCO MELANDRI (14th, 1’54″082): “It’s been a difficult day because I haven’t managed to find the right feeling with the bike. I’m not confident enough to push hard and get the best out of the bike. We’ve done a lot of laps and the tyres are holding out well but we tried a few different solutions with the bike set-up and didn’t find the improvement we need. The team is working really well though and in the warm up we’ll try going back to the set-up we had on Friday before the two crashes.” FAUSTO GRESINI: “Marco is having a tough time but the team will do their best to support him and find the right set-up. We know that this is not a reflection of his true potential.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey from pole position after blazing his trail through the Istanbul Park circuit. ‘The Doctor’ was unstoppable despite some late challenges to his fastest lap, a 1’52.795 over two tenths of a second quicker than Fiat Yamaha team-mate and second-placed rider Colin Edwards. Rossi has never won in Turkey, but enters in rich form after a win at Jerez and lying first in the standings. Dani Pedrosa will round off the front row for the race, having not quite been able to push for pole as he got caught in traffic with John Hopkins, himself on a flying final lap. The Honda rider pushed his 800cc to go faster than both factory Ducati bikes, Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi biting at his heels after having placed highly in the free practice sessions. World Champion Nicky Hayden dug deep for a top six start alongside the red machines, still getting to grips with the new parts brought in for the Honda RC212V. The American has a crucial race ahead of him after a tough start to the season, and qualified ahead of countryman Hopkins, Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet, Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen and Gresini man Toni Elias, all four on Bridgestone tyres. 250cc Andrea Dovizioso put himself in a prime spot for a first 250cc win of the season, taking pole in the quarter-litre class. The Italian had to be at the top of his game, with Jorge Lorenzo defending a perfect record of pole positions and wins in the class and he pushed his rival all the way. Lorenzo was just over three hundredths of a second slower than the Team Scot rider, who earned his top spot with a lap of 1’57.473. Alvaro Bautista was the only rider not to better his time from yesterday, but was still well and truly on the pace as he once again put himself on the front row. Alex de Angelis completed the top four, with Marco Simoncelli joined by 250cc rookies Thomas Luthi, Mika Kallio and Julian Simon on the second row. Last year’s race winner Hiroshi Aoyama and Hector Barbera complete the fastest ten, with Aoyama’s younger brother Shuhei suffering a spectacular, although injury-free, crash at the midway stage of the session. 125cc Mattia Pasini confirmed pole for the 125cc race with a 2’04.722 lap, a second quicker than his provisional fastest time yesterday. It marks the Italian’s second consecutive pole, although at Jerez last month he didn’t have the opportunity to use it to his advantage after a breakdown on his Polaris World Aprilia on the warm-up lap of the race. Second overall in the championship, Hector Faubel pulled out the stops to once again start from the front row, at the scene of his first ever Grand Prix victory last year. He is joined in the fastest four by surprise package Simone Corsi and current series leader Gabor Talmacsi. Lukas Pesek will begin from row two tomorrow, having suffered a crash whilst pushing for a final hot lap. The Valsir Seedorf Derbi rider is accompanied by Tomoyoshi Koyama, Joan Olive and Michael Ranseder. The Grand Prix of Turkey begins tomorrow at 12pm local time, with the MotoGP race taking place at 3pm. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI FACES WITH OPTIMISM THE ISTANBUL CHALLENGE Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet and Olivier Jacque will start tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix from the third and fourth row respectively after qualifying eighth and eleventh at the one-hour long qualifying session that took place today at the Istanbul Circuit Park. Despite the grid position achieved is not as good as expected, the Kawasaki Team faces with optimism the third race of the 2007 season after showing an important improvement on the engine and chassis side making the riders feel more comfortable and reducing the lap times as the sessions were progressing. Randy de Puniet made today a huge effort after yesterday’s crash, not only as he had to catch up on his schedule but he had to overcome a huge pain in his right heel and hip. With better surface conditions than yesterday, the 26-year-old worked throughout this morning third free practice session to refine the race set up and checking again the softer rear race tyre option that yesterday left him with a good impression. However, an increase of the track temperature in the afternoon made de Puniet and his crew go for a harder option as a consequence of an increase of rear sliding. Half way through the session, like happened in Jerez, de Puniet was the first rider to switch to the qualifying tyres in the one-hour long qualifying session holding the pole position until the last minutes. While the Kawasaki rider couldn’t improve his lap times with his other two sets due to the over-sliding, his rivals took advantage of their sets relegating him to the eighth position. De Puniet’s team-mate, Olivier Jacque achieved today his best qualifying position of the season setting his best lap time almost under the chequered flag and with his third set of qualifying tyres. Even though the experienced French rider was losing a lot in the first intermediate, he made up the time in the second and third and lost out on the third row by less than a tenth. Satisfied with the race set up of his Ninja ZX-RR that he and his crew ended up with in the morning, Jacque knows that the start will be vital if he is to achieve his aim of a top ten position tomorrow. With the top ten in mind, the Kawasaki Racing Team faces with optimism tomorrow’s 22-lap race after the improvement in feeling and consistency of both riders and the Ninja ZX-RR performance, with the only doubt remaining of which will be the tyre choice for the race. Further discussions tonight and tomorrow’s weather conditions will resolve it. Randy de Puniet 8th – 46 Laps – Best Lap 1’53.706 “My heel is still sore but the hip is even more painful but I had to put up with it and did the best I could. This morning we did many little adjustments in the bike and worked for the whole session with the same front and rear tyre, which was the soft option that I liked yesterday. It went pretty well but in the afternoon it was sliding a lot due to the increase of the track temperature. This is the reason why we tried a harder one but it was sliding a little so we are not sure which one we will use tomorrow. My first qualifying worked quite well but I had problems with the other two. I don’t know what happened, we need to check but the engine drop down and the front end was suddenly moving a lot. Anyway, I am confident because my feeling on the bike is quite good as is my race pace.” Olivier Jacque 11th 48 Laps Best Lap 1’53.847 “I was expecting a better result at the qualifying session but the qualifying tyres didn’t offer as much improvement in side grip over the race tyre as we were expecting, and there was some confusion as well at the end with lots of riders waiting for the Ducatis so they could follow them. The wind didn’t help to find the right line and the balance of the bike. We did some suspension adjustments this morning, and tried two different tyres but the choice will depend on tomorrow’s weather. I am sure that if we do a good start we will be able to get the aimed top ten positions.” Ichiro Yoda Kawasaki Racing Director “This weekend has been quite positive so far. We brought some new chassis parts and the engine is working very well. Checking the speed sheets, we can be satisfied. And the chassis parts helped to improve the lap times as well. We are satisfied too with both riders’ performance. We are working on the right direction and tomorrow our aim is to have both riders at the top ten. Seventh position for Randy and eighth for Olivier can be possible. And this is our target.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO MEN A FRACTION OFF FRONT ROW Ducati Marlboro Team men Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi will start tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix from the second row of the grid after qualifying fourth and fifth, narrowly missing out on the front row. Stoner – who has been in impressive form all weekend, running fastest in two practice sessions – ended this afternoon’s qualifying session just half a second off pole. Back-on-form Capirossi was 0.184 seconds off his team-mate after improving the set-up of his Desmosedici GP7. CASEY STONER, 4th fastest, 1m 53.375s “We are very confident on race set-up. We are reasonably sure of what set-up and what tyres we’re going to use for the race so we didn’t have to do too much testing this afternoon and I think we can look forward to a good battle up front. I was in the pits for a while before my qualifying runs just because we had already tested all the tyres we needed to and we know what we’re going to use, so there was no real point doing more laps to wear myself out and risk things. The first qualifier didn’t go too well, I wasn’t very confident with it, I ran wide and didn’t do the best effort. The second qualifier would’ve been a lot better but unfortunately I couldn’t get rid of a few riders before the lap, they were tailing me, waiting for me to go. I suppose I slowed down too much trying to get rid of them, the tyres got too cold and when I started the lap the tyres were moving around a lot. As the lap went on I got a bit better and a bit better but it was just my fault for taking it too easy on the out lap.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 5th fastest, 1m 53.559s “This afternoon we made some changes for maybe less rear grip but more front-end stability. As soon as I got out of the pits I was able to lap do 1m 54s, so our race pace is good. We had two qualifiers: a new tyre and a more standard tyre. I tried the new one first and it was good, it’s got a lot of potential. I felt so good with that tyre that in one corner in the second split I got third gear half an hour earlier than usual, but I was too fast, went onto the kerb and almost crashed. Maybe I lost seven tenths right there. When I got back to the pit I only had one tyre left which isn’t one of my favourites but I gave 110 per cent and finally I got fifth. The second row isn’t so bad. What makes me very happy is that I really enjoyed riding today and I feel at ease in race trim. Bridgestone have made a really good job, they’ve solved a lot of problems we had last year here and tomorrow we will be able to fight at the front. I don’t want to make predictions, I just want to enjoy myself again and we will see what happens.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: RAPID DANI ON FRONT ROW FOR TOUGH TURKISH TASK Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) showed both speed and resolve to put himself on the front row as third fastest qualifier with only Valentino Rossi (on pole) and Colin Edwards ahead of him (both Yamaha). In a hard-fought hour of qualifying Dani made sure he gave himself every chance of a strong result in tomorrow’s 22-lap race by staying at the sharp end of the timesheet. And it’s conceivable the Spanish star might have headed the grid had he not run into traffic while on schedule for a possible pole time. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) was much less comfortable than Dani in this session and for much of the time he was way off the pace, languishing as far down the order as 19th with just ten minutes to go. But the reigning World Champion showed typical fighting spirit to haul himself up the order to sixth for a second row start. In sunny conditions with the track at 34 degrees and ambient temperature a comfortable 20 degrees, riders peeled out of pit-lane to tackle this imposing 5.430km track. As has become a regular feature of qualifying Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) was the first to make the early running before Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) and then Loris Capirossi (Ducati) upped the pace. Rossi showed he’d be in contention and Dani and Casey Stoner (Ducati) were in the early reckoning too. At the halfway point riders continued to circulate at a likely race pace before the switch to qualifying rubber began and again de Puniet was the first to make the move. The order was de Puniet, Rossi, Stoner, Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), then Capirossi and Dani. Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) and Nicky lay 15th and 16th at this stage. And with 15 minutes left de Puniet still led the field. But the major runners had yet to perform. Stoner and Rossi then upped the pace, their times dipping into low 1m 53s bracket. Edwards made his bid for the front row elevating himself to third in the order as the final ten minutes of action began to unfold. The American’s team-mate Rossi then circulated at 1m 52.795s to record the fastest lap shatter Sete Gibernau’s 2005 qualifying record by 0.461 seconds. This was 0.8 seconds faster than Dani’s best so far, but the young Spaniard, who lay second fastest, had more to produce. Scorching towards a probable pole time, Dani was unintentionally baulked by John Hopkins (Suzuki). The American has a deserved reputation as one of the hardest rider to pass on the brakes and try as Dani did, he could find no way past the Suzuki man despite being visibly faster. But the front row should be good enough for Dani to figure at the front in the early stages of the race. This track, notoriously hard on front tyres, posed problems for the rest of the Honda riders with only Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) figuring in the top ten qualifiers and even then only as 10th fastest man. His best time of 1m 53.835s is more than a second shy of the pole mark. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) managed the 12th fastest time for a fourth row start, Melandri, who has twice won here in the premier class, could only qualify 14th. Checa ended up 16th, while Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR212V) struggled to 18th. Dani said, “I think everybody had quite a lot of traffic at the end of the session because there were many riders going for a fast lap, so it wasn’t just a problem for me. Without this I think I could have been a little faster, but I’m on the front row which is the important thing for the start of the race. Also, I’m in a much better position than last year when I was right at the back.” His team-mate Hayden, sixth fastest, said, “That’s the best I’ve qualified this year so it’s nice to be starting up near the front. It would be good to get one of the starts I had at the last race in Jerez and get stuck in there, though my race pace hasn’t been as fast as I’d like which means it could be a chore tomorrow. We’ve made some changes to the bike to improve things and a big thanks goes to the team because they’ve definitely been working hard this weekend, changing a lot of things and working long hours.” Elias, in 10th place on the grid, said, “Tenth is a real handicap for the race but I’ll just try and get a good start, stay calm and make up as many positions as I can. I’m quite happy because I set a good pace and this is the important thing. I’ll try and make the most of the hard-braking areas to pass people and I’m confident I can do it. The team is working well and we have a clear idea about tyre choice. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t make better use of the qualifying tyre.” “We changed so much in the morning,” said 12th fastest Shinya Nakano. “Adjusting the suspension settings, springs and spring rates as well as the tyres. Try as we might we couldn’t get a very good feeling from the bike until this afternoon when things began to feel more positive. It’s not perfect, but it has improved a lot. Tomorrow we will change a few things for morning warm-up, not great big steps, but hopefully we can find some small improvements. I still can’t carry the corner-speed I want which is our problem at the moment, but we will be trying 100% and I’m hoping to get into the top 10 at least by the chequered flag.” Melandri, in 14th spot, said, “It’s been a difficult day because I haven’t managed to find the right feeling with the bike. I’m not confident enough to push hard and get the best out of the bike. We’ve done a lot of laps and the tyres are holding out well but we tried a few different solutions with the bike set-up and didn’t find the improvement we need. The team is working really well though and in the warm-up we’ll try going back to the set-up we had on Friday.” Checa, in 16th, said, “For sure from 16th position on the grid the main thing I can do is overtake some riders! Overall today was positive but qualifying was disappointing. I am very satisfied with my race set-up and tyre choice, but the big handicap is starting so far behind. However I have a lot of confidence that I can recover many positions and I’m confident of my braking points for overtaking.” Roberts, down in 18th, said, “We took a big gamble here, fitting swingarms substantially different to anything since the first Honda Team Roberts bike. It’s an area we think is related to a grip problem. It seems to help, but it creates other problems. The change is the right direction. It’s just now a matter of trying to get the bike to work with those swingarms. We’re just a little off the pace, but a long way off in position.” Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) spoiled Jorge Lorenzo’s so far perfect record of two poles and two wins in the 250cc class when he grabbed pole from the reigning Spanish World Champion with a lap of 1m 57.473s. Lorenzo (Aprilia) lines up alongside as second fastest man with Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) third fastest and Alex de Angelis (Aprilia) completing the front row. Julian Simon (Repsol Honda RS250RW) made row two as seventh quickest qualifier while Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda RS250RW) and Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) start from 11th and 12th in tomorrow’s 20-lap race. Dovi said, “I am really happy with this pole position. The bike is really good. I have a problem with the rear tyre but so do all the other riders. The chassis is good and the front tyre too and I’m confident we’ll have a good rear for the race. Today we improved lap by lap and eventually took pole position. Normally I work towards getting the bike perfect for the race and not chasing pole position so I am very happy to be on pole for tomorrow.” Mattia Pasini scorched to pole in the 125cc class ahead of Hector Faubel who qualified second fastest, Simone Corsi third fastest and with Gabor Talmacsi completing the front row (all Aprilia). Pasini had set the early pace in this second timed session, but Talmacsi had shown he too had the speed to figure at the front of the grid. At the halfway stage of this final half-hour stint the Hungarian headed the grid with a 2m 05.374s lap. Faubel too temporarily led the field and with three minutes left it seemed as if his 2m 04.951s time might be enough to secure him pole, but Pasini had the last say in the matter with a 2m 04.722s time that no one could better. Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) was the best Honda qualifier in 13th for a fourth row start, while Alex Masbou (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) qualified in 19th place. Smith said, “A bit of a disaster really, I only managed to get in about three or four really good laps. I guess it was my own fault because I was waiting for a fast rider to get a tow. I needed help on the straight because we were a little down on power this afternoon. The handling is good. It was slightly better in the morning session but we know what we have to do with the chassis set-up. Maybe I can knuckle down to a good pace in the morning warm up.” Honda rider quotes GP Turkey qualifying. MotoGP. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 3rd.”I think everybody had quite a lot of traffic at the end of the session because there were many riders going for a fast lap, so it wasn’t just a problem for me. I slowed up and tried to get some free space for my lap but Hopkins came in front of me and I was with him for the whole lap. Without this I think I could have been a little faster, but I’m on the front row which is the important thing for the start of the race tomorrow. Also, I’m in a much better position than last year when I was right at the back. Hopefully I can make a great start and get away well because the first corner here is very difficult. Our bike set-up is quite good and the Michelin tyres too, so I hope I can have a good race tomorrow.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 6th.”That’s the best I’ve qualified this year so it’s nice to be starting up near the front. It would be good to get one the starts that I had at the last race in Jerez and get stuck in there, though my race pace hasn’t been as fast as I’d like which means it could be a chore tomorrow. We’ve made some changes to the bike to improve things and a big thanks goes to the team because they’ve definitely been working hard this weekend, changing a lot of things and working long hours. And the Michelin qualifier worked well today which helped me. We changed the transmission around on the bike to try to increase the top speed but it didn’t really help and we’re still giving up a lot. Still, we’ll come here tomorrow and try to make a good start and fight with those guys at the front.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 10th. “Tenth place is a real handicap for the race but I’ll just try and get a good start, stay calm and make up as many positions as I can. I’m quite happy because I set a good pace and this is the important thing. I’ll try and make the most of the hard-braking areas to pass people and I’m confident I can do it. The team is working well and we have a clear idea about tyre choice. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t make better use of the qualifying tyre.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 12th. “We changed so much in morning warm-up, adjusting the suspension settings, springs and spring rates as well as the tyres. Try as we might we couldn’t get a very good feeling from the bike until this afternoon when things began to feel more positive. It’s not perfect, but it has improved a lot. Tomorrow we will change a few things for morning warm-up, not great big steps, but hopefully we can find some small improvements. I still can’t carry the corner-speed I want which is our problem at the moment, but we will be trying 100% and I’m hoping to get into the top 10 at least by the chequered flag.” Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 14th. “It’s been a difficult day because I haven’t managed to find the right feeling with the bike. I’m not confident enough to push hard and get the best out of the bike. We’ve done a lot of laps and the tyres are holding out well but we tried a few different solutions with the bike set-up and didn’t find the improvement we need. The team is working really well though and in the warm up we’ll try going back to the set-up we had on Friday before the two crashes.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 16th. “For sure from 16th position on the grid the main thing I can do is overtake some riders! Overall today was positive but qualifying was disappointing. I am very satisfied with my race set-up and tyre choice, but the big handicap is starting so far behind. However I have a lot of confidence that I can recover many positions, I’m confident of my braking points for overtaking. On my final qualifying run I lost a few tenths of a second behind Kenny Roberts. Normally Kenny takes care of the riders behind, but today he was in the middle of the track and this cost me some time.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR212V: 18th. “We took a big gamble here, with swing-arms substantially different to anything since the first Honda Team Roberts bike. It’s an area we have never changed, that we think is related to the grip problem. It seems to help that area, but it creates a lot of problems with how I load the bike. I can load the rear harder, but the bike’s not in the right position. It’s as though it’s set up to not overload that area, because we had developed the bike not to overload the tyre. Both my qualifying tyres looked brand new at the end, which means something’s not right.” “Certainly, the change is the right direction. It’s just now a matter of trying to get the bike to work with those swing-arms. There is a key front fork setting that really stands out to me, so we’re going to change that tonight for the warm-up. We did a 1’55.7 on race tyres. That’s not fantastic, but it was similar to some of the other Hondas at the time. We’re just a little off, but a long way off in position.” Chuck Aksland: Team Manager “The swing-arms have been modified to change stiffness. Even last year he was struggling for grip, and it was one of the areas that hadn’t changed much, so we made a big jump and brought it here. The positive thing is it seems to have made some difference, but with the set-up of the bike and suspension having compensated around that weakness, and it seems we need some other changes. With the first session wet, we just ran out of time. We’ll try a few steps in the morning, and hope it will improve.” 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Scot Honda: 1st. “I am really happy with this pole position the bike is really good. I have a problem with the rear tyre but so do all the other riders. The chassis is good and the front tyre but I’m confident that we will have a good rear for the race. Today we improved lap by lap and eventually took pole position. Normally I work towards getting the bike perfect for the race and not chasing pole position so I am very happy I’m on pole for tomorrow.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 8th. “We haven’t been able to finish these practices the way we would have liked to, because we have been in the front throughout the weekend, but not this afternoon. We were not able to do the same in the last qualifying practice, but we know the problem. It was a tyre which we think is defect and we’ll have to check it. What we know for sure is that I haven’t felt on the track the way I used to feel. I’m sorry for the team because they helped me a lot to learn this track quickly with this new bike. However, I think that we can make a great race tomorrow with good tyres, because we have a good pace and we are very much looking forward to it. Starting from the second row, I’ll try to get a place among the leading riders on the first few laps and push.” Yukio Takahashi, Scot Honda: 11th. “Today I as much faster compared to yesterday, but not fast enough. If you take out the top two I feel I can run with the rest because we are very close. Because of this I am confident about this for the race. We have a good chassis setting and the engine is OK. It will be very important for me to get a good start, if I do that then I will have a good race.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 12th. “I had a few problems with the engine at the beginning of the practice. Then, in the fast corner, I noticed that the rear tyre was not working well and I crashed. After the crash I tried to improve my lap times and despite improving compared to yesterday, it wasn’t enough. But I feel well on the bike. Maybe there is some thing we have to try to improve on the bike, but it’s nothing important. In any case, I’ll try to push harder tomorrow to get a good result. “ Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 17th. “In the late stages of the session, I struggled a bit to improve my lap time and defend 16th position. I believe I could have gone faster, but the result is good and the team did a great job. This morning we tested various tyres in order to find the right combination for tomorrow’s race. In this area, we have quite a clear idea of what to do. This morning the wind bothered us a bit, but it was the same for everybody and we had to do our best regardless of the conditions. I guess tomorrow’s race pace will be in 1m 59s times and I hope I’ll get a good result.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 21st. “I was in a group of fast riders and I improved my times every lap, but also got held up in traffic a couple of times. I’m happy with the bike, we just need to make a final tyre choice for the race distance. This is a great track, a lot of fun to ride and very physical in the downhill braking areas.” 125cc. Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 13th. “A bit of a disaster really, I only managed to get in about three or four really good laps. I guess it was my own fault because I was waiting for a fast rider to get a tow. I needed help on the straight because we were a little down on power this afternoon. The handling is good, it was slightly better in the morning session but we know what we have to do with the chassis set up. Maybe I can knuckle down and get a good pace in the morning warm up.” Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda: 19th. “I had a few problems today. We are trying a new chassis but did not have enough time to set it up the way I need it to be to go fast. The problem was made bigger because I seized the engine in that bike and had to run with my spare machine. Obviously this did not have the best set up for qualifying so I slipped down to 19th on the grid.” Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: 21st. “We had many problems this afternoon and I did not get the result I was hoping for. We have been working hard on the chassis and suspension settings because I just cannot hold my race line. We have a lot of work to do tonight but I am confident that the team will improve the bike for the warm up tomorrow.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 24th. “Not too bad this afternoon. We made changes to the set up of the bike and it feels much better everywhere. The engine is really good, it’s fast. We have a little change to make to the gearbox but I have to say the bike is good. I set my lap time alone so I am pleased with that. Sure I know I could have been at least a half second faster with a tow but I am happy with today and I’m ready to race.” Kevin Coghlan replacement rider for Mike Di Meglio, Scot Honda: 27th. “I’m not satisfied about today’s qualifying, I worse in the afternoon because of suspension problems. For tomorrow I’m confident, I think that if we solve this inconvenient problem we have the potential to have a good race.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 30th. “At the beginning of the session a rider passed me down the straight but was holding me up in the corners so I came into the pit made a slight change to the suspension then went out again looking for a fast rider to run with so I could get a better time. Ii didn’t find one so I’m a long way back on the grid. The engine is fast and the only thing we have to work on is the suspension but not too much, just a couple o small things.” Dino Lombardi, Scot Honda: 32nd. “This morning everything was quite good, then because of the straight I lost precious seconds. Anyway, I thought to make a good qualifying lap but instead I got worse. I don’t know why but in the official session the tension stopped me and I’m not able to drive as I want. I hope tomorrow to improve.”
