Andrea Dovizioso and Yuki Takahashi head to Valencia, last race of 2008 The World of MotoGP draws to an end on Sunday October 26th at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit where the final Grand Prix of Valencia will be held. For JiR Team Scot this is the closure of a very intensive season, which has confirmed the competitiveness of both their riders. Andrea Dovizioso, 125cc World Champion, twice runner-up in the 250cc class, has acquitted himself well in MotoGP, with a memorable fourth-place finish in the first race of the year in the night race in the desert of Qatar. From then a memorable series of finishes resulted last Sunday in Malaysia with Andrea’s first podium in the colours of JiR Team Scot. This year, Yuki Takahashi, in the 250cc class took two podiums including a thrilling second place at the Misano circuit, not far from his ‘second home’ in the town of Cattolica. Both JiR Team Scot riders occupy fifth position in their respective championship standings, and will now look forward to the final challenge as the seek to end their 2008 seasons in the best way possible. Gianluca Montiron Director JiR Team Scot “The first race in Qatar seems to have been only yesterday, but we have already spent eight months ‘on the road’ and in a few days in Valencia we will take part in the eighteenth and final Grand Prix of the 2008 season. It has been a year of great satisfaction and one that we have committed to high-level goals, in both the individual races and the championship overall. Andrea, along with the Team, has grown as a rider and has increasingly been able to better handle the various situations that come to him during the year. The efforts and the professionalism of the team have been repaid by excellent race finishes, along with the first podium in Malaysia, which was the culmination of our and Andrea’s competitiveness so far. To be the top-ranked satellite team is a reality in Valencia and the final effort is now required to close our adventure with securing the top five finishing position in the World Championship.” Cirano Mularoni Team Manager JiR Team Scot “The Valencia race will have a special appeal this year. Andrea comes from a wonderful podium in Malaysia and even with our technical package we feel confident that we will be challenging strongly. We would like to end this season which has been full of satisfaction for us on a high. Yuki is equally motivated, and after two podiums at Jerez and Misano, he could end his adventure in the 250cc category with another well-deserved result. We have had a strong season, and both riders now have reached the goals set they and we set them at the beginning of the year. We now should be concentrating to conclude the top five positions in both championships.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider JiR Team Scot MotoGP – HONDA RC212V “Valencia will be my last race with the team that I made my debut with in the World Championship.These seven years have been important, we have collected many successes, including the world title in the 125 class. This season we wanted to be able to climb the podium, I would have preferred if it could have happened many other times, but we have only touched upon it before then finally reaching it in Malaysia. Valencia is not a circuit that I love in particular and make a prediction now that a good result will not be easy. We’ll do the best, as always, as I would like to make another ‘gift’, of a good result before my change of team at the end of the season.” Yuki Takahashi JiR Team Scot 250GP Rider HONDA RS250RW “The Valencia circuit I have always enjoyed. Although in recent seasons I have not managed to get the results that I should have deserved. I want to finish my last year in 250s before my move to MotoGP with a good result that I want to devote to the team, which has experienced with me this year an exciting championship. In Malaysia we secured an excellent fourth-place finish, and now we can move on and try and confirm for us fifth position in the championship.” Circuit of Valencia Circuit length: 4005 m (2.489 miles) Straight: 876 m (0.544 miles) Width: 12 m Pole Position: Right Right corners: 5 Left corners: 9 MotoGP Lap record: 1’32 “748 D. Pedrosa 2007 (Honda) Pole Position: 1’31 “002 V. Rossi 2006 (Yamaha) Grand Prix of Valencia 2007 – Results: 1st Dani Pedrosa (Honda) – 2nd Casey Stoner (Ducati) – 3rd John Hopkins (Suzuki) 250GP Lap Record: 1’35 “659 M. 2007 Kallio (KTM) Pole Position: 1’35 “109 H. Aoyama 2006 (KTM) Grand Prix of Valencia 2007 – Results: 1st Mika Kallio (KTM) – 2nd Alex De Angelis (Aprilia) – 3rd Alex Debon (Aprilia) More, from a press release issued by Michelin: 2008 MotoGP World Championship Michelin preview, round 18 Valencia Grand Prix, Valencia October 24/25/26 MICHELIN 100% FOCUSED FOR MotoGP FINALE Michelin goes into the 2008 MotoGP finale aiming to repeat last year’s victory and finish the year on a high. Michelin has a great record at Valencia, winning all but one of the nine premier-class GPs staged at the Spanish track. Michelin riders are currently in good form, with podium finishes at four of the last five MotoGP events, and two of its riders still battling for the Rookie of the Year prize. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) is currently the best-placed rookie in fourth overall, but Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) is now only 21 points behind after scoring his first MotoGP podium at Sepang last weekend. Michelin has four riders in the top seven championship positions with one race to go: Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) and Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin). Valencia is a landmark event for the renowned French tire brand, the company’s final MotoGP race, because the sport switches to a one-make tire format for 2009. Michelin opted not to bid to supply tires under these circumstances because it believes that a world championship should promote open competition. Michelin have contested motorcycle GP racing since the early 1970s, winning 26 premier-class world titles since 1976 and scoring 360 premier-class GP victories. MICHELIN AND THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE OF VALENCIA “Valencia has always been a good track for us,” says Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “We know the circuit very well because over the years we have done a lot of testing and racing there, so we have a lot of data. “It isn’t one of MotoGP’s fastest tracks but it is nevertheless very aggressive and demanding on the left side of the rear tire. The second-to-last corner – the long left over the hill – is the most demanding corner, because it’s fast, with positive and then negative camber. But the most important feature of Valencia is its asymmetry. The difference between the left and right sides of the rear tire is very big, almost as big as Phillip Island. In fact what we learn from Phillip Island we can incorporate into our Valencia tires. The track also resembles Phillip Island because there aren’t so many right-handers, so you need good warm-up on the right side of the tires. Valencia isn’t the most difficult circuit, but it is the third most asymmetric, after Phillip Island and Estoril, so it does offer a big challenge to the tire companies and it’s not easy to find consistent race-long performance on the left of the rear tire. Track conditions aren’t usually too tough because the weather is quite cool at this time of year. We specify medium to medium-hard tires for this circuit. “Edge grip is probably the most important factor for rear-tire performance at Valencia because the track is all corners with only one real straight, so acceleration traction isn’t quite as important as other places with bigger straights. The first two corners are hard work for the front tire, with some heavy braking from high speeds. But we are now quite happy with our front tire; we had good front performance at the last two races at Sepang and Phillip Island. “Valencia will be another race for us. As always we will focus on the race, still working to provide the best tires for our riders, still 100 percent involved in trying to win on Sunday.” Recent winners of the Valencia GP 2007 Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin), 46:43.533 2006 Troy Bayliss (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP6), 46:55.415 2005 Marco Melandri (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V-Michelin), 46:58.152 2004 Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha YZR-M1-Michelin), 47:16.145 2003 Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin), 47:13.078 2002 Alex Barros (West Honda Pons RC211V-Michelin), 47:22.404 2001 Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki RGV500-Michelin), 54:39.391 (damp race) 2000 Garry McCoy (Red Bull Yamaha WCM YZR500-Michelin), 48:27.799 VALENCIA DATA Lap record: Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin), 1:32.748, 155.453km/h (2007) Pole position 2007:Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC212V-Michelin), 1:31.517 Michelin’s 2008 MotoGP riders at Valencia Randy de Puniet (Honda LCR RC212V-Michelin) Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Team Scot Honda RC212V-Michelin) Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin)