RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP TAKES FURTHER STEPS ON DAY TWO Rizla Suzuki MotoGP concluded its first ever test on the new Suzuki 800cc MotoGP machine at Valencia in Spain, with yet more encouraging results. John Hopkins, Chris Vermeulen and Factory Test Rider Nobuatsu Aoki all took to the track to put the new engine through its paces. Hopkins and Aoki also trialled the first generation of a brand new prototype chassis that next year’s bike may feature. Both riders noticed a difference in performance from this year’s chassis and the Factory will now work on the data to make further enhancements. The three riders completed a total of 161 laps between them with Vermeulen leading the way by clocking a quickest time of 1’32.69. Hopkins was only just behind with a fastest lap of 1.32.69 and Aoki recording a best time of 1’37.30. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will continue its testing schedule at Sepang in Malaysia, during mid November and then a third and final test in 2006 at Jerez in Spain at the end of this month. The 2007 MotoGP season gets underway at Qatar in March. Chris Vermeulen: “The second day on the 800, but the weather wasn’t as good today. Fortunately there was enough track temperature for us to test some tyres for Bridgestone, and all the tyres seemed to work as well as they did on the 990. We tried a lot of different chassis set-ups and engine mappings which made the bike a lot easier to ride and faster! For a first test it’s not a bad starting point and I am looking forward to seeing how it goes in Sepang.” John Hopkins: “All in it’s definitely been a great test, it has been really successful. I can honestly say that it has been better than we could have hoped for over these last two days. We still need to work on a few things to clear everything up, but we have a lot of testing to do that. We need to be competitive next year, that’s the main thing, and we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but Suzuki has definitely made the job a lot easier so far!” Nobuatsu Aoki: “I have done a lot of miles already on the new 800 in the tests in Japan. But I am very pleased to be here at the first official test of the bike to see how it performs with John and Chris. They have both done very well and I am happy that I have been involved in getting the bike to this position.” More from a press release issued by Ducati Marlboro: FINAL DAY OF TESTING FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM AT VALENCIA The two Ducati Marlboro Team riders set quick times again today to positively conclude the final day of testing for the Italian manufacturer’s new MotoGP line-up. The final day of testing went according to schedule despite lower temperatures than Sunday’s race weekend and the presence of threatening rain clouds. Capirossi and Stoner were able to lap all day to continue the development of the Desmosedici GP7 for next year’s MotoGP World Championship and positively concluded the first test for the Ducati Marlboro Team’s new 2007 line-up. Loris Capirossi, who focussed on engine and chassis work with the 800cc powered Desmosedici GP7, completed a total of 75 laps of the Valencia track, setting a quickest time of 1m33.011s. Casey Stoner also got through a considerable amount of work, the Australian youngster constantly setting quick laps on the second day. The new Ducati Marlboro Team signing got to grips with his Ducati machine and Bridgestone tyres, confirming yesterday’s first positive outing. In his 68 laps of the track, Stoner’s best time was 1m32.940s. Casey Stoner – 68 laps (best time 1m32.940s) “I am really satisfied with the way these first two days on the Ducati GP7 have gone. Everything went well and I made good progress. I’m getting used to the new ‘package’ of bike and tyres and first impressions are positive. The more I spend on the bike the more I get used to it and things become easier and more natural. The 800 seems similar to the 250s in riding style: it allows quicker cornering and even under braking you can push harder than on the 990. This Ducati has got so much power and I can’t wait to get back on the track at Jerez for the last tests of the year!”. Loris Capirossi – 75 laps (best time 1m33.011s) “These have been two important days of testing because we made a lot of radical changes to the set-up, which you can’t do during a race weekend. In this development phase it is vitally important to experiment with several different solutions so that you don’t arrive at race weekends unprepared. I am quite satisfied and happy that we can now only concentrate on the 800 that we will use next year without having to ride the 990, which we had to do before this test”. The Ducati Marlboro Team now returns to base for a period of rest following a superb end to the season. The next test session this year is scheduled for November 28-30 at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain. Temperatures: air 21° C / track 20° C More from a press release issued by Pramac D’antin: POSITIVE RESULT FOR ALEX BARROS DURING THE FIRST TEST AT VALENCIA Today, the second and last day of practice of the PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP Team with ALEX BARROS took place on the Ricardo Tormo circuit of Valencia. The Brazilian rider went on making kilometres on the DUCATI 990cc and taking confidence with the BRIDGESTONE tyres. The final balance from Valencia is positive and the work that has been done will allow the Team to begin the test in January with a good base. Today, ALEX made 1’33.2 as a best laptime, with a rhythm of 1’33. The next test will be in January, on the circuit of Sepang, Malaysia. ALEX BARROS #4 (1’33.2): “I’m very happy about this first approach with the Team, the motorcycle and the tyres. Today, we made a good job, even if the temperature was a lot fresher and every so often it slightly rained. The weather conditions have had a bit of an effect on the general output but anyway we managed to improve the laptime and the rhythm from yesterday. These two days of practice have been useful especially to have basical impressions and I can say that, all things considered, we made a really good job. In the next test, we will use the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP7 800c. With the Team, I already have a really good relation, DUCATI is giving me a great support and the BRIDGESTONE tyres showed to be very efficient. In short, I’m really satisfied of everything and I already feel very confident for the next season”. FABIANO STERLACCHINI – Track Engineer: “Today, the weather conditions changed and weren’t very favourable, the sky was very cloudy, the temperature lowered nearly until 15°c and there also were some drops of rain. Besides everything, we made a good job. ALEX’ best latime has been 1’33.2, with a pace of 33. A rhythm really satisfying as it would mean a 4th-5th position in last Sunday’s race. We didn’t used qualifying tyres, the temperature was too low to be able to do it the ideal conditions. That’s why, as agreed with BRIDGESTONE, we concentrated our work on the race tyres. BARROS really likes the motorcycle, he was impressed by the power of its engine, in a positive way. He needs more feeling with the fork but we didn’t dwell on this difficulty as it will be a different one next year. We only wanted to get basical impressions. Anyway, the rider, right now, is really satisfied with everything. The feeling is good from both parts and we can be happy about the work we realized during these two days of practice”. More from a press release issued by Honda Racing: REPSOL HONDA TEAM COMPLETES POSITIVE VALENCIA TEST ON NEW RC212V The Repsol Honda team wrapped up the second full day of testing of their new-for-2007 RC212V machine at Valencia today. World Champion Nicky Hayden and his Spanish team-mate Dani Pedrosa made the most of a dry track to put in valuable development work on the 800cc V4-engined bike they will campaign in the 2007 MotoGP series. The test completes a fantastic season for the factory Honda team during which they won every major accolade available in the final year of the 990cc MotoGP era. Nicky Hayden took the riders’ title, Dani Pedrosa was the Rookie of the Year, Repsol Honda captured the Team World Championship and Honda won the Constructors’ title. America’s new World Champion now returns to the United States for a well-earned break in his home town of Owensboro before the winter testing programme kicks off at Sepang, Malaysia, on November 15. Nicky Hayden Lap time: 1m 33.03s Laps completed: 73 “The new bike’s really nice and Honda’s definitely done some really good work with it. The test went pretty well, though I would have liked to have gone a little quicker today and it feels like there’s a little gremlin under acceleration. The way it was accelerating from second to third gear had a bit of hesitation and we’ll have to work out this detail before we can go a lot further. The chassis seems quite good and there’s definitely more corner speed with this bike – I think the tyres will change a lot with a different profile with more on the edge. Now I’m going back home and I think we’ll have a party!” Dani Pedrosa Lap time: 1m 32.66s Laps completed: 67 “Today we were lucky because the weather remained dry so this was perfect and we were able to do many laps. Basically we did some tyre testing for Michelin and some more specific set-up work for the bike to continue things from yesterday. The progress was good, though it’s still early and there’s plenty of testing still to do before we begin again in 2007. Now I’m looking forward to getting home!” More from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: ROSSI GETS STARTED ON HIS NEW CAMPAIGN WITH THE YAMAHA 800 IN VALENCIA Just a couple of days after the dramatic finale to his rollercoaster season, Valentino Rossi was back out on track in Valencia yesterday and today, already thinking about next season’s revenge as he got to grips with Yamaha’s new 800cc motorcycle. After the final race of the 990cc era on Sunday, most of his MotoGP rivals were also out on their new bikes as the teams began the long winter of testing in the build-up to the first race next March. Having only ridden the Yamaha 800cc bike briefly on two previous occasions, this test was the first chance for Rossi and his team to assess it in detail and really begin to work on its development. They concentrated on a variety of different set-ups throughout the test with the aim of gathering as much data as possible to aid the Yamaha engineers in their task. Discounting some times from riders who chose to start off on their 990 bikes, which included Rossi for some laps yesterday, the Italian set the seventh fastest lap time of the 800s overall with a time of 1’33.10 yesterday. Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards will get his first taste of the new bike at Sepang in two weeks time before both riders head to Jerez together for the final test of the year at the end of the month. VALENTINO ROSSI “It was really good to have two days to rest after such a sad day on Sunday and I’m already feeling much better, in fact I wish the season started in two weeks time! We actually started off the test by doing some laps on the old 990cc bike as we wanted to have one more go at understanding why we lost! Then it was time to finally put it all behind us and get on with the new campaign. It’s been great to be able to try the new bike straight away, when the 990 is still fresh in my mind, as it’s easy to compare and understand the differences. Our bike is already quite good; it’s at a good level for this early stage of development. This is the third time I’ve ridden it and it’s got better each time because they’ve been working hard in Japan. They haven’t made so many big changes yet, just small things like the engine setting, but already it’s a bit faster. Yesterday we were fastest, which was exciting, but today we’ve been trying some different things and we were quite a lot slower. Anyway I’m not worried about that, the most important thing at the moment is to get as much information as possible and really start to understand and get to know the bike. This has been a useful test, I’m already feeling very motivated about the new bike and I am sure that next time I ride it in Jerez it will be even better!”. DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “It was nice to start the 2007 season straight away and not to dwell on the past and this has been a very important test for us with our new 800cc bike. Yesterday Valentino was quite fast which was encouraging. Today we worked on some different things and so he was a bit slower, but at this stage all this information is extremely useful in order to help develop the bike for the next test. Next Colin will have his chance to try the bike and give his opinion and this will also be very important for our engineers. It’s been interesting for us to have a look at our competitors here this week; everyone is already fast so it’s clearly going to be another hard and competitive season and we know we’re all going to have to work very hard through the winter!” UNOFFICIAL LAP TIMES Wednesday 1st November 2006 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha 990, 1’32.70 2. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 990, 1’32.73 3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 990, 1’32.90 4. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha 800, 1’33.10 5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 800, 1’33.14 6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 800, 1’33.17 7. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 800, 1’3318 8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 800, 1’33.21 9. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 800, 1’33.43 10. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 990, 1’33.64 11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 800, 1’33.66 12. Jeremy McWilliams (IRL) Ilmor 800, 1’35.80 13. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 800, 1’36.60s Thursday 2nd November 2006 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 800, 1’32.66 2. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 800, 1’32.69 3. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 800, 1’32’95 4. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 800, 1’33.96 5. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 800, 1’33.02 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 800, 1’33.03 7. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 990, 1’33.40 8. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha 800, 1’33.78 9. Jeremy McWilliams (IRL) Ilmor 800, 1’35.90 10. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 800, 1’36.40