Grand Prix of Japan Motegi September 30th October 2nd 2011 Preview Takaaki Nakagami (#30) Robertino Pietri (#39) Five month and half after the scheduled week-end, Motegi will host the Grand Prix of Japan. It was due to be held from April 22nd to 24th, but the earthquake and the tsunami that hit the Honshu Island on march 11th, greatly damaging the Daiichi nuclear plant, north of the circuit, forced the sanctioning body to post-pone it, moving the date from Spring to Autumn. Beside Robertino Pietri, the Italtrans Team will enter Takaaki Nakagami. The young rider is Japanese, 19 years old and not knew to the World Championship he competed in the 125 cc class for two seasons, when he was 16 and 17 years old, classifying 24th in the former one, 16th in the latter. Best race result: 5th, twice (Le Mans, Donington – both in 2009). This year he’s competing in the All-Japan Championship, GP2 class. He’s the leader, having won all races. Luigi Pansera (Team Manager) “Luigi Pansera (Team Manager) “We fly to Japan confident of a good weekend. We will try hard as usual to give our riders a chance to express their full potential. We are delighted to have Takaaki with us. Moreover, he knows very well the track, and I’m sure it will be an interesting and productive relationship”. More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team: MARC VDS CONFIDENT OF TWIN-RING CHALLENGE The Marc VDS Racing Team head for Japan and the rescheduled Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, as Mika Kallio and Scott Redding both look to continue their recent run of form at the Twin-Ring Motegi circuit. Originally scheduled in April, the Japanese Grand Prix was postponed for the second year in succession following an earthquake and subsequent tsunami that caused widespread devastation to the country. Kallio took a hard fought tenth place last time out at Aragon, only missing out on a top six finish after being hit by another rider on the final lap. The Finn is determined to break into the top five at Motegi, a track at which he has won three times in the past, but doesn’t count as one of his favourites. Redding led the race and looked set to claim his first podium of the season at Aragon, until a badly blistered rear tyre dropped him to 15th position at the chequered flag. The 18-year-old Marc VDS rider is confident of a better result this weekend at Motegi, a track at which he finished fifth last season. Opened in 1999, the 4.8km Twin Ring circuit, some 160km north of Tokyo, sits in a rural landscape and, as its name suggests, boasts not one but two tracks: a “super speedway” oval and the longer, snaking “road course”, which the Moto2 teams will be tackling this weekend. Mika Kallio #36 “For me Motegi is a little bit boring as a circuit. Lots of hard braking followed by slow corners and then hard acceleration make it very stop start. It’s certainly not one of my favourite tracks but it’s a circuit at which I’ve won three times in the past, so it obviously suits me! I hope that this weekend we can continue in the same way as the last few races, as we’ve been steadily improving. We know the bike is capable, so we need to be fighting in the top five now. That’s what I’ll be aiming for this weekend.” Scott Redding #45 “I like the Motegi circuit. It’s quite a technical track, with a lot of places where you’re hard on the brakes, especially into the downhill corners. I had a pretty good result at Motegi last season, finishing in the top five, but it could have been better if I hadn’t got held up by Takahashi for so long. We struggled with rear tyre endurance at Aragon, so we need to try and find a set-up that works better late in the race this weekend. I’m looking forward to Japan and I’m confident we can finish with a good result at Motegi.” Michael Bartholemy: Team Manager “I’m looking forward to going to Japan. It’s good for the championship that everyone got their heads together and decided, finally, that we would go. It is only fitting that we show our support to a country that is so inextricably linked to motorcycle racing, as they continue their recovery from this natural disaster. I just hope everyone stays safe this weekend. As for the race, I’m confident that Mika and Scott can continue where they left off in Aragon, with strong results this weekend. Mika rode what was probably his best race of the season last time out and Scott was unlucky to lose out to tyre problems after leading the first half of the race.” More, from a press release issued by JiR Moto2 Team: GP of Japan, preview The time has come for the Japanese round of the Moto2 World Championship that will be held this weekend on the Twin Ring circuit in Motegi. All the personnel in the Team JiR has been left free to decide whether take part or not, and the Team headed by engineer Pietro Caprara has decided not to go. In their place there will be TSR’s Japanese Development Team, that built the frame for the MotoBI in exclusivity for JiR. Alex De Angelis will therefore be able to count on the valued working team that has been chosen by Gianluca Montiron taking advantage of the experience that the TSR personnel has in the management of the official Honda machines in the Japanese Championship and in the famous endurance race of Suzuka. Beside this the TSR staff takes care of the development of the frame that equips the Moto2 and the new Moto3 machines and is highly experienced in running the factory’s Honda CBR600RR and CBR1000RR. The Team Principal Gianluca Montiron will be on the field to manage over the racing weekend, the first round of a three-round stint that will be run outside of Europe, just before the final rush to Valencia on November 6th. In the last race in Aragon, Alex De Angelis finished close to the podium and last year here in Motegi he took 4th at the line, good results that give good hope for reaching the top five in the Riders’ World Championship. Alex DeAngelis This weekend in Japan will be a tricky and delicate race, both for the nuclear issue and for the racing. News that comes from that region is incoherent so it is very hard to have a clear idea of the risk and therefore to have an opinion. I hope that whoever decided to make the race happen knows what he’s doing. I’m expecting an unusual atmosphere, as many workers, from journalists to the paddock people have decided not to come. Race-wise the work that we will be called to do is tough as well, because the third place in the Championship is in our reach but in theory the Motegi circuit is maybe the hardest for the MotoBI’s technical configuration. This time I won’t have my usual team on my side but I will be supported by the TSR technicians, they have undoubted capabilities but for evident reasons we will need some time to get the feeling with each other and find out a way to communicate. We have an important target to reach. We have not so many races left so we will have to find immediately the feeling between rider, team and machine and to start with determination in the attack to the third place in Championship. More, from a press release issued by FTR MOTO: