The MotoGP Teams Get Ready For Le Mans
The Le Mans circuit has had some modifications to the layout in readiness for the MotoGP improving safety to the revised new lap length of 4,185m while keeping it’s unique character.
Valentino Rossi on the Fiat Yamaha is hoping to continue his good fortune from his win in China earlier this month. It was the first win for the Italian so far this season and he hopes to take his next victory on the French circuit, which he feels he should have done better at last year.
Rossi said “Last year Le Mans was incredibly disappointing for us. We were hoping for a good result in the dry, but the rain came and things didn’t go as planned. This year, however, we’re going there on a high after the fantastic result in China and I’m confident we can have a good weekend. Yamaha usually go well at Le Mans and, although it’s the first time we’ve been there with Bridgestone, I’m confident we’ll be strong there. I’m nine points from the top of the championship but our rivals are very motivated too, so there’s no let-up and we must go for the maximum points again.”
The reigning champion, Casey Stoner, is hoping for a better performance at Le Mans although he has already confessed to it not being one of his favourite tracks but is eager to get on with the job in hand and decrease the 25 point difference between himself and the current leader of the 2008 championship, Dani Pedrosa.
The Ducati rider said “I haven’t had outstanding results at Le Mans in the past, but they have been good and I remember being really fast in practice last year and being confident for the race. Then on Sunday it rained but I still came away with a podium.”
“The track itself is not the most exciting. It’s more like a go-kart track, the bike has to be really efficient on the brakes but agile at the same time, and quick on the exit of corners. But at the end of the day the objective is still the same, whether you like the track or not.”
His team-mate, Marco Melandri has had success on the track in the past and said “I think I can do well there because I won in 2006 and last year I made the podium. Personally, I have always liked this track so hopefully I can get another good result.”
The Kawasaki rider, John Hopkins is hoping to be back to full fitness for the next race after injuring his leg at the Shanghai round. He caught the back of his knee on the footpeg of his Ninja after getting in a tangle with Alex de Angeles, forcing him off the track but he rejoined and continued to take fourteenth position in the race.
Hopkins said “My leg is completely black and blue with bruising but, while it looks quite nasty, it hasn’t caused me any problems. I’m confident it won’t be an issue on the bike. I’m looking forward to Le Mans because it’s a track that suits my riding style. There’s a lot of hard braking, quick changes of direction, and hard acceleration, and that’s exactly what the ZX-RR has been designed for. When you combine this with our Bridgestone tyres, which always seem to work well here, I think we’re in a strong position.”
His team-mate, Anthony West was equally disappointed with his race at Shanghai and has been working hard with his crew to solve the traction problems he has had since the start of the season.
West said “I’ve had some problems this year with the rear tyre spinning up too easily out of the turns but, after discussing the problem with my crew and Kawasaki’s technical staff, we think we’ve identified what we need to change on the bike to see an improvement in this area. If we can fix this problem, then I am confident that a top ten finish in France is a realistic goal for me.”
Chris Vermeulen who won at the French circuit last year in the pouring rain for the Rizla Suzuki team is hoping to do the same again but preferably in dryer conditions. He said “I’m looking forward to Le Mans, and not just because of the memory of my first MotoGP win. We need to get back on the bike and try to get the GSV-R as competitive as it can be.”
“It was really disappointing after Shanghai. The results we’re getting are not what we all deserve for the hard work we’re putting in, maybe we just need that bit of luck to go our way. What better place than Le Mans for that to happen?”
His team-mate Loris Capirossi said “I believe that the bike is very capable of running at the front. We need to start getting the positions that we want and everybody at Suzuki is working hard to make it happen.”
Bright sunshine and 25 degrees celsius temperatures provided perfect conditions for Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri as they took to the Phillip Island circuit for the first of three days of testing alongside the majority of MotoGP teams in Australia.
It proved to be a positive day for both Ducati Marlboro Team riders, who recorded impressive lap times on a race setting. Stoner racked up 29 laps in 1'30 whilst experimenting with set-up and tyres, giving highly encouraging feedback on the new Bridgestone rubber. The World Champion is also continuing to regain strength in the shoulder he injured at Jerez towards the end of November, so much so that today he was able to complete a total of 73 laps.
Marco Melandri was also satisfied after completing just shy of 100 laps, making good progress with the base setting of his GP8 in both the cycle part and engine. He did not try the Japanese tyre manufacturer's latest offerings today but will start to do so tomorrow.
Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team), best time: 1'30.178 (73 laps)
"Everything went really well today, the feeling with the bike was perfect almost straight away. The new Bridgestones, which had already given us positive feedback at Sepang, also worked perfectly here at Phillip Island - one of them in particular improves the bike a lot in the exit of the corners, especially in the final section of the track. We've also taken a step forward with some small changes to the front, which have made the bike more stable and improved grip to the point where my best time came without pushing, on a tyre that already had 17 laps on it. I'm also really happy with the latest specs of the engine and the way it is responding under acceleration coming out of the corners. The weather was basically perfect all day apart from when the wind picked up a little in the afternoon but the smaller fairing, which we used for the race here in October, meant that it wasn't a problem. Towards the end of the day my shoulder was a little sore because this is such a physical track, with a lot of fast corners, but it is still better than it was in Malaysia."
Marco Melandri (Ducati Marlboro Team), best time: 1'30.869 (99 laps)
"I'm really happy today because I finally feel as though I'm riding the bike more or less as I should. We knew that Phillip Island would be better for us and that's proved to be the case. The feeling was good from the first lap, thanks also to the things we learnt in the last test. At Sepang I probably changed the balance of the bike too much, trying to make it more similar to what I have ridden in the past, whereas here we've just tried to find a good base set-up, which has made it more manageable in the corners and less nervous. I am happy even though we're still not at 100%. We've actually got plans to try something new with the weight distribution tomorrow and we want to continue working on the electronics to try and improve the power delivery even more, then we can start tyre testing. In any case we've made a great start here."
Phillip Island info
Circuit Record: Marco Melandri (Honda - 2005) 1'30.332 Best pole: Nicky Hayden (Honda - 2006) 1'29.020
Fastest Lap GP 2007: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'30.801 Pole 2007: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'29.201
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