Thursday Afternoon’s MotoGP Practice Times: 1. Loris CAPIROSSI, Ducati, 2:00.757 2. Valentino ROSSI, Yamaha, 2:00.840 3. Sete GIBERNAU, Honda, 2:01.037 4. Alex BARROS, Honda, 2:01.053 5. Marco MELANDRI, Honda, 2:01.242 6. Nicky HAYDEN, Honda, 2:01.490 7. Carlos CHECA, Ducati, 2:01.524 8. Colin EDWARDS, Yamaha, 2:01.588 9. Max BIAGGI, Honda, 2:02.029 10. Shinya NAKANO, Kawasaki, 2:02.280 11. John HOPKINS, Suzuki, 2:02.289 12. Troy BAYLISS, Honda, 2:02.424 13. Alex HOFMANN, Kawasaki, 2:02.617 14. Ruben XAUS, Yamaha, 2:02.790 15. Makoto TAMADA, Honda, 2:03.066 16. Kenny ROBERTS, Suzuki, 2:03.609 17. David CHECA, Yamaha, 2:04.259 18. Roberto ROLFO, Ducati, 2:05.187 19. Shane BYRNE, Proton KR, 2:05.353 20. James ELLISON, Blata, 2:07.680 21. Franco BATTAINI, Blata, 2:07.868 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HOFMANN AND NAKANO BATTLE ASSEN HEAT WAVE Heat wave conditions, unusual for Assen at TT time, made life difficult for Kawasaki riders, Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann, during today’s free practice sessions ahead of Saturday’s Dutch TT. Track temperatures soared to 48 degrees at the sun-baked Circuit van Drenthe during the afternoon session, much higher than the 35 degree temperatures of recent years at this race. While the warm weather was a welcome change for riders and spectators at a normally cool Assen, they did little to assist in Kawasaki’s search for an ideal race set-up. Tyre assessment for Saturday’s 19-lap race was the main focus today, and will remain so tomorrow for Kawasaki and Bridgestone technicians. A revised range of Bridgestone tyres have been made available for the unique demands of the Assen circuit, although today’s test results were inconclusive according to Ichiro Yoda, Kawasaki’s Technical Director. Rear tyre drive-grip and race distance endurance will be further assessed in tomorrow’s two hours of practice and qualifying. Following last week’s test session at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona revised engine management settings, aimed at improving rear-end control under acceleration, are being used on the factory ZX-RR machines at Assen. Nakano finished with the tenth fastest time toda,y while Hofmann was just behind in twelfth. Hofmann’s fastest lap came in the cooler morning session. Shinya Nakano: #56 – Tenth – 2’02.280 “The afternoon session was very difficult; I lost the good feeling I had with the bike during the cooler morning session. I improved my lap time, but it wasn’t easy. The main problem is rear-end pumping and grip under acceleration on corner exit. We are still looking for a tyre direction for the race and we will try some different tyres tomorrow, hopefully with better rear-end performance. The changes to the track are better for safety, but everyone is still adjusting their braking points, they are different from last year.” Alex Hofmann: #66 – Twelfth – 2’02.409 “It’s amazing for it to be so hot at Assen, but the heat did not favour our performance potential at this track. For sure we need to improve our rear-end grip and set-up for the race, at the moment it’s good for a couple of laps, but the race is over 19 laps. I had a good rhythm in the morning session and we got a lot of set-up work done, but I’m looking for more, I want to push into the top ten in qualifying tomorrow.” Ichiro Yoda: Technical Director “Our main work today was tyre evaluation with Bridgestone, and we still have a lot to do. We need to confirm the mileage and grip for the race distance; today the performance was not ideal, with a slippery feel for both riders at the rear end. Drive grip on the right hand side of the tyre is very important at Assen, and we have further tyre options from Bridgestone to test tomorrow. The front is okay; the rear is our main focus. We have also implemented a new engine management strategy here and this is helping the riders with throttle control.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Capirossi signals Ducati revival at Assen Two years after setting pole position for the Dutch TT in his first season with Ducati at Assen, Loris Capirossi today sparked hopes of a revival for the Italian factory with the fastest lap on the opening day of action at the 75th anniversary of the famous event. The Italian struggled to eleventh place in the last round at Catalunya, just seven days after his first podium of the season at Mugello, but his early pace in Holland suggests he can be back to challenge for the Italian factory’s second MotoGP victory in Saturday’s historic race. “We are in a much better situation than we were at Barcelona two weeks ago but we need to work on bike set-up to get more out of the tyres,” said Capirossi. “The front is fine but we’re still trying to find a good rear for the race. I did my fastest lap at the end of the session on my number two bike with a race rear I hadn’t used before so we’ll test that tyre for more laps tomorrow. At the moment we’re not super-competitive in race trim but Bridgestone are working so hard that we have got a lot of new tyres to try here.” Despite Capirossi’s late charge there is little doubt that the dominant force throughout the day was current series leader Valentino Rossi, who set the pace for the morning practice and most of the afternoon on the Yamaha before ultimately being bettered by his compatriot. Honda’s Sete Gibernau trailed Rossi for most of the day and ended up third fastest on the combined time sheets, 0.197 seconds adrift of the World Champion. Alex Barros began his quest to repeat his 500cc victory here from 2000 with the fourth fastest time on ahead of Honda colleagues Marco Melandri and Nicky Hayden. Capirossi’s Ducati team-mate Carlos Checa, who finished second to Mick Doohan here in 1997, was seventh quickest, with Colin Edwards, Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano completing the top ten. The only crash today in the MotoGP class came from Rubén Xaus, who escaped uninjured from a high-speed tumble that wrecked his Yamaha. Sebastián Porto scored only his second ever dry weather victory at this circuit last season and showed signs of a repeat in the first qualifying practice for the 250cc class. Porto bounced back from a difficult start to the season to hold off the challenge of Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner this afternoon, taking provisional pole position in a time of 2’05.530. Hiroshi Aoyama qualified fourth fastest to complete the provisional front row whilst his team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who leads the current standings by 27 points from Stoner, was sixth. Alex de Angelis, Héctor Barberá and Andrea Dovizioso complete the second row. In the 125cc class current series leader Mattia Pasini continued his recent form by taking provisional pole position by just 0.003 seconds ahead of Mika Kallio. Pasini’s lap time of 2’12.742 was almost half a second quicker than the third fastest rider, Spanish youngster Sergio Gadea, whilst Marco Simoncelli completes the provisional front row. Thomas Lüthi, who is second in the championship by a single point, was tenth fastest. More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Yamaha: ROSSI SETS EARLY PACE AT JUBILEE DUTCH TT Gauloises Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi signalled his intentions to repeat last season’s Dutch TT victory at Assen with a dominant performance on the opening day of this year’s 75th anniversary of the legendary event. The reigning World Champion set the fastest time in the first free practice session this morning, posting a benchmark lap of 2’01.003 at the recently remodelled track, only bettered in the afternoon by himself and a last-gasp effort from Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who tops the overnight time sheets after clocking a time of 2’00.757 on his final lap. Rossi and his Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards worked purely on race tyres as they began the quest to find an optimum set-up for their YZR-M1 machines before the seventh race of the 2005 season on Saturday. Edwards set the eighth fastest time overall in the afternoon after shaving over half a second off his morning time, despite rising temperatures which touched 34ºC in the early Dutch summer sunshine. VALENTINO ROSSI (2’00.840 30 laps) “In the morning the bike was already good but we made a few modifications in the afternoon and, to be honest, it wasn’t quite as good as it had been in the morning and we lost some of the feeling. Anyway, we have a very good base to work from and tomorrow we can try something different. The changes to the track have taken a little bit of the taste away, but they were made for safety reasons, which means they are very important. Despite the changes it is still Assen and it is always a great pleasure to ride here, it’s a very special track. Once again the bike is working well right from the start and I think if we can improve the balance and the setting a little more, then we can make a good result in Saturday’s race.” COLIN EDWARDS (2’01.588, 38 laps) “It’s better than it looks! When everything is working perfectly and you find yourself in eighth place then it looks like you have a problem, but we have some very clear ideas where we can improve and we still have plenty of time. I feel like I can find another half-second tomorrow. I’ve been struggling for traction since Mugello so we’ve retraced our steps a little with the setting, made a pretty major change to the rear of the bike and it feels a lot better. I’m losing a few tenths in the new sections because I haven’t worked out which is the hot line through there yet but, like when you visit a new track, it always helps to sleep on it. Also, the corners at Assen are so unbelievably fast compared to anywhere else that it always takes me a day to get used to where I can brake and where I don’t have to! At some tracks you can turn up and the bike works straight away but Assen is not one of them. It puts a lot of load on the bike and unless you find the right setting you can’t go fast. “ DAVIDE BRIVIO TEAM DIRECTOR “Valentino started out very well this morning and found an immediate feeling for this track, so from then on it has just been a case of fine tuning the small details. He completed a lot of work today, working on different setting options, but there is still plenty of room for improvement and tomorrow it will be time to put it all together. Colin is in a similar situation he has found a good base quickly and is now looking for the changes that can help take a few tenths off his lap time in different parts of the track. It has been a good first day for us and we have an excellent starting point for the rest of the Grand Prix. Now we just have to keep working hard tomorrow and make sure we are in the best possible conditions for Saturday’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda: POSITIVE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE FOR CAMEL HONDA AT ASSEN It was a positive first day of practice at Assen for the two riders from the Camel Honda team, as the duo made progress on their base set-up of the RC211V. Alex Barros improved his time by over one and a half seconds with respect to the morning session, whilst Troy Bayliss took about a second off his best. The team is on the right track as they prepare for tomorrow’s qualifying session, which according to forecasts should take place in the same splendid weather enjoyed today. The two team-mates had differing opinions about the modifications made to the circuit, which sees the rhythm of the lap broken about halfway round. For Alex the modifications have taken away from the character of the track, whilst Troy is focused simply on memorising the new layout. Sito Pons Camel Honda “I think we have begun the Dutch event well. Alex is just two-tenths behind the fastest times, which is nothing at this track, and he has a good pace going. Obviously we need to keep working hard to improve the setting, we still need to pick out the race tyre, but the most important thing is that I can see he is determined and confident in his chances. Troy is also making steps forward and I think that he could take a much better spot on the grid. I think that in qualifying tomorrow the times will come down a lot more and we will get to the sort of lap times set for pole last year, even though the track is slower.” Alex Barros Camel Honda – 4th fastest “This morning the bike felt a bit heavy in the changes of direction but we were able to improve it a bit by the afternoon, working on the forks, on the front tyre and putting on a slightly modified shock absorber. We have picked out a good base setting and tomorrow we have just to fine-tune things and pick the tyre for the race. As regards the track and the modifications they have made, I have to say that I don’t like them. I understand that they have been done for safety reasons, but I think they take something away from the track, they break the flowing rhythm. Where once there were a series of fast bends linked in to each other now there’s a section just like any other modern track, with hard-braking and hard acceleration: that’s why it’s not like Assen any more, I preferred what it was like before.” Troy Bayliss Camel Honda – 13th fastest “I’m thirteenth, not the greatest result, not spectacular by any means, but we’ll obviously go out to improve it tomorrow. On a positive note though, we’re not far off the top ten, just four tenths, which isn’t a lot on this track. The new section honestly doesn’t bother me too much, you just have to learn the new lines quickly. What I need to focus on is making a step forward with the set-up and we hope to manage that tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM LEADS THE WAY AT ASSEN Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi rode a stunning final lap to outpace Valentino Rossi at sun-blessed Assen today, bettering the reigning World Champion by 0.083 seconds. Team-mate Carlos Checa was just seven tenths slower than Capirossi, ending the two sessions in seventh spot. “It’s only Thursday, so this doesn’t mean much but it’s always nice to be fastest,” said Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. “The Desmosedici has always worked well at Assen, and Loris really loves this track. Two years ago here he got pole position for us and last year he ran a good pace in our first race with the Twin Pulse engine. Carlos is also going pretty well, once again he’s having to learn a new track with the Ducati. We have some new engine parts for this race, which we tested after the race at Barcelona; they are designed to improve midrange driveability.” CAPIROSSI FASTEST WITH RACE TYRES Loris Capirossi grabbed ‘pole position’ on his final lap of the day. And the Ducati Marlboro Team rider set the pace while riding his number-two bike with race tyres, not a super-soft qualifying tyre. “We are in a much better situation than we were at Barcelona two weeks ago but we still need to work on bike set-up to get more out of the tyres,” said Capirossi. “The front is fine but we’re still trying to find a good rear for the race. I did my fastest lap right at the end of the session on my number two bike with a race rear I hadn’t used before, so we’ll test that tyre for more laps tomorrow. At the moment we’re not super-competitive in race trim, but Bridgestone are working so hard that we have a lot of new tyres to try here. “I don’t like the new part of the track. I preferred the original layout they got rid of a few years ago. It was very fast, you could really make a difference through there.” CHECA FEELING CONFIDENT IN SEVENTH Carlos Checa enjoyed his first day on a Ducati at Assen, making excellent progress into this afternoon’s session after a steady start this morning. “This morning I didn’t feel so comfortable on the bike but I felt much more confident this afternoon,” said the Ducati Marlboro Team man. “At first the rear was moving around too much and the front end felt unstable in the fast sections, so it was difficult to keep the front on the ground. The team worked well to make some good improvements on the overall balance of the bike, so now we just need to keep working. But the faster you go, the more difficult it is to improve. “The new chicane is quite delicate – there’s not much room and it’s easy to run off the track. Usually when you modify something you should make it better, but I think they’ve made it worse. It’s a shame.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team SUZUKI MotoGP finding its feet at new-look Assen Team SUZUKI MotoGP has had a challenging first practice day for the Gauloises TT Assen in The Netherlands today. Both Kenny Roberts Jr and John Hopkins had technical difficulties as they tried to come to terms with the new layout of the famous Dutch circuit. Roberts Jr (P16, 2’03.609) was very frustrated at the end of this afternoon’s session. He said: “I don’t know where I ended up but it can’t be good. I had problems with both of my bikes during the session and never got a chance to get anything sorted. I just hope the crew can find out what’s wrong and get it fixed for tomorrow – as we now have a lot of work to do.” Today’s practice session was held glorious sunshine with air temperatures reaching 34 degrees centigrade and a track surface of 48. The fastest time was set by Loris Capirossi on a Bridgestone-shod Ducati. Hopkins (P11, 2’02.289) was only 1.532 seconds behind today’s quickest lap and he believed he could have posted a better time if he had got a clear run. “Every time I was on a fast lap I seemed to catch up with another rider who was right in the middle of the track and I had to go out of my way to get round them. “We are still struggling in some sections of the circuit and in others we’re doing really well. It’s basically the fast sections we’re struggling in – and that’s where you lose most of your time – but in the tighter stuff we’re looking pretty good. Once we can sort out the faster transitions – like the quicker chicanes – then I think we should be in a lot better position.” Team Manager Paul Denning was not happy with the day’s practice. “Today has possibly been our most unproductive day so far this season. We’ve suffered both technical faults and set-up problems and between those two it’s stopped either of the guys getting into a good rhythm. Bridgestone have made progress all year, but we have some concerns again here regarding how long the tyres can maintain their edge-grip – which is so important to the GSV-R’s performance. “I went to see the rock-band REM last weekend and they opened with a song called `Bad Day’ – that pretty much sums it up, but we’re hoping for better tomorrow.” Team SUZUKI MotoGP has one further practice session tomorrow morning with qualifying in the afternoon. The Team will then unveil its new `LAGUNA SECA RED BULL SUZUKI’ at 18.30CET on Friday evening. The race gets underway at 14.00hrs CET on Saturday 25th June. More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha: First day / READY FOR THE TEST AT ASSEN As was the case at Mugello and Catalunya, David Checa will ride with Ruben Xaus for the Fortuna Yamaha team at Assen as Toni Elias is still not recovered from the injuries sustained after his fall at Le Mans. After consulting doctors, Elias decided to delay his return until the American GP in California on July 10. Although assen is a circuit that the Spaniard likes a lot, he has opted not to return until he is 100 percent fit. On a day of scorching weather conditions for these parts, Ruben Xaus who was fifth in the morning ended the day in 14th spot, 2’033 behind the day’s main protagonist Loris Capirossi. Xaus fell on his final lap of the day, escaping unhurt, but once again demonstrated he is adapting well to the MotoGP Championship. Ruben has high hopes for Saturday at a circuit where he has always performed well. David Checa, who was triumphant here last year at the 500 kms of Assen, struggled to settle and was 17th at the end of the day. Ruben Xaus (11): (Free session 1: 2.02.986, 11th + 1.983 21/22 laps) (Qualifying session 2: 2.02.790, 14th + 2.033 -10/22 laps) “We are working well. The fall on the last lap was a shame; the front end went and, although I was initially able to control it, I could not avoid falling as it was leaning too much. I found a good rhythm, the bike is going better all the time but there are still some small errors we need to correct which allow you to make up time on the top riders. Assen is a very demanding circuit and you can see that from the amount of time I had to go back to the box, so we will have to keep on working hard. But I am very satisfied with how things went on this first day.” David Checa (94): (Free session: 2.05.055, 17th + 4.052 21/22 laps) (Qualifying session 2: 2.04.259, 17th + 3.502 – 21/22 laps) “This is one of the most difficult circuits in the Championship, more demanding than Mugello or Montmelo of course. Today I just had to settle for doing a few laps to acclimatise to the track on this Yamaha and I tried to lower my times in the afternoon. However, I still don’t have the confidence necessary to find the perfect set-up. I am happy, but there is still a lot to do and time for me to learn.” More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda: SETE BATTLES THROUGH A DIFFICULT DAY The first day of qualifying for the Dutch TT at Assen was particularly intense because of the new track configuration which has seen the overall length reduced from 6,027 metres to 5,997m. Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri spent the two hours of free practice gathering fresh references of the track layout and finding a base set-up to work from tomorrow. In Sete’s case the job was made even harder by the fact that his Chief Mechanic was missing from the pit box today. Juan MartÃnez has spent the day in hospital due to a migrane attack which has caused him to have dizzy spells and sickness, as well as severe headaches. Sete focused on running up the laps on a basic setting and made only small changes with the help of the team. The World Championship runner-up completed a total of 41 laps of the new Assen track and recorded the third fastest time of the day, just two tenths slower than Loris Capirossi. Marco Melandri kicked off with fifth place, happy with his race rhythm and confident of improving it tomorrow as he gathers more and more kilometres on the new track. SETE GIBERNAU (3rd, 2’01″037): “We’ve started the weekend with difficulties because my Chief Mechanic has been in hospital since this morning and that affected our work programme. In these conditions I’m trying to do all the work myself with the help of the team. The morning session was tough for all of us because we didn’t know what state Juan was in and we were hardly able to test anything. In the afternoon we made the time up and found a basic set-up for the bike, without too many changes, and I just ran up the laps to provide as much information as possible. The whole team are making a big effort to lose as little ground as possible.” MARCO MELANDRI (5th, 2’01″242): “It was a particularly difficult day because of the changes they made to the track it’s much easier to make mistakes now because the reference points have changed a lot. One of the corners we took in fourth gear last season is now taken in second, for example. The heat also caught us by surprise. In general I’m happy with the way we’ve started. We have to keep working on our race pace.”
