GP OF JAPAN: MARCO MELANDRI IS READY TO REPEAT HIMSELF After the spectacular victory at Phillip Island where Marco Melandri claimed his third victory of the season, The Fortuna Honda rider arrives in Motegi strong motivated to repeat himself. With 193 points, the Italian rider is now third in the World Championship, 32 points behind leader Nicky Hayden, the American rider on Honda. The Grand Prix of Japan, 15th round of the season, is a special appointment for the Honda riders, motivated to do their best on the track owned by the Japanese Manufacturer. His team-mate Toni Elias is chasing for a good result. After a good start of the season, and having missed three races because of bad injury in Assen, the Spaniard is now ready to fight for a good result. MARCO MELANDRI: “I’m very happy. After the incredible race at Phillip Island, that came just at the right time for me, I look forward to racing in Japan with the same enthusiasm. Thanks to the win, the third of the season, I jumped to the third position in the World Championship. I’m confident for the three races to go, this year the championship is very close and I think it will remain opened to the end. Last Sunday in Australia, l showed that I’m ready to be competitive in every situation and I want to give my best and fight for the podium every gp. I’m confident for the Japanese GP. I like the track, but first of off I think that it’s important to keep on working well with the team and to have fun riding on my Honda bike. TONI ELIAS: “Motegi is a track that I like and where I have got good results with two wins in 250cc class. I hope that we can finally get some good results and turn positively this complicated season. The team is doing a great job and my feeling with the bike is improving. At Motegi is very important to find a good set up of the bike. Because of the strong braking, it’s important to have a good balance on the bike. The secret in fact is to find compromise between braking and acceleration.” THE TRACK Built:1997 Last modified:1999 Lenght:4.801 m Width: 15 m Pole position:left Right Curves: 8 Left Curves:6 Straight: 762 m RECORD: Record:2005 Capirossi (Ducati) 1’47″968 Pole position: 2005 Capirossi (Ducati) 1’46″363 2005 Race :1° Capirossi (Ducati) 2° Biaggi (Honda) 3° Tamada (Honda) Motogp race: 24 laps, 115,224 km More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: THREE’S-UP FOR RIZLA SUZUKI AT MOTEGI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will be joined by Factory Test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi in a three-man team for the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. Akiyoshi will be making his Grand Prix debut alongside the Rizla Suzuki regulars. The 31-year-old Japanese star will be racing the same Suzuki GSV-R that the Rizla Suzuki team has been using all season, and will be looking to put home track knowledge to his advantage as he takes on the best motorcycle racers in the world. The team comes to Japan buoyed by last weekend’s podium for Vermeulen and will be looking to get back in the groove as quickly as possible over the 4.8km Japanese track. Hopkins qualified on the front row at Motegi last year, whilst Vermeulen will be visiting the circuit for the first time. Motegi is located just over 90 kilometres to the north-east of Tokyo. The track is one of the safest and most modern on the MotoGP Calendar, and with an interesting mix of fast ess bends, hairpins and a top-speed downhill section into a 90° bend, Motegi is a very exciting and demanding circuit. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will have two free practice sessions on Friday followed by a further free session on Saturday morning. The real business of qualifying for round 15 of the MotoGP World Championship will be on Saturday afternoon and the riders will take to the track for the race at 14.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT) on Sunday 24th September. Paul Denning Team Manager: “We come to Motegi after – what was until the race a difficult weekend in Australia, both the guys worked extremely hard there and if points were scored for trying they would both have made the podium! We have certainly learnt some valuable lessons from Phillip Island and we will work on the data to make sure we can find a solution if a situation like that presents itself again. “Motegi is a very important race for Suzuki as it is obviously the ‘home’ Grand Prix for the factory. We will be joined this week by Akiyoshi san and we hope that he can put on a good display and enjoy his first ever GP. John goes very well around Motegi and the GSV-R should be well suited to the track so we will be hoping for a strong performance from him. Chris is visiting this circuit for the first time but I am sure he will adapt to it very quickly and find the layout to his liking. There will be a lot of fans, guests and employees of Suzuki at Motegi and we’ll be looking to give them something to cheer about!” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Marlboro: DUCATI MARLBORO MEN AIM FOR PAYBACK IN JAPAN The Ducati Marlboro Team comes to Japan this week aiming to get back on the podium after fickle weather thwarted its chances of success in Australia last Sunday. Riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau were both fast enough to make the top three at Phillip Island and they come to Motegi in upbeat mood, confident that they will have an excellent bike and tyre package for the Japanese track. Last year at Motegi Capirossi took the ‘triple crown’ – pole position, race victory and lap record – an unforgettable performance at the Japanese motorcycle industry’s home race. And both the team’s riders are on fine form at the moment, Capirossi taking a win and a second place at the two races preceding the Australian round, while Gibernau led at Phillip Island to prove that he is fully up to speed following a second round of surgery on the left collarbone he broke back in June. LORIS CAPIROSSI, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 5th overall, 180 points “I am really looking forward to riding another proper race because I hate races like last weekend’s, when the weather decides everything. Last year’s Motegi victory is a very special memory for us. For Ducati to win a MotoGP race in the home of the Japanese bike factories was incredible, a really amazing achievement for everyone involved in this project. Looking back at last year, Motegi was one of our easier races because our bike and tyres worked so well there. You also need a lot of horsepower for acceleration from the many slow corners, and the Ducati engine has always been very strong. This time we will do our best to win again, but we will wait and see. Same for the championship, we will have to see what happens. Motegi is also Bridgestone’s home race, so we want to give them another great result. Their tyres work so well there, the lean angles you get are amazing. Bridgestones also work for my style.” SETE GIBERNAU, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 12th overall, 82 points “I can’t wait to get to Motegi because I need a victory and I feel like we are getting close to achieving that. The team is working well and Bridgestone is giving us great tyres. After last weekend I’m looking for payback even though I have never really liked Motegi. I’ll just have to see if Loris can help me out because he’s very fast there. Ducati and Bridgestone also perform really well there, so I hope this will be the year that the circuit changes for me. I find it hard to get into a rhythm at Motegi, I find the track boring, and I need to enjoy my riding. The layout is very stop-and-go, so I can never use the front tyre the way I want to use it. Hopefully Ducati and Bridgestone will help me out, help me find some pace. In fact I have done some pretty good races there, fighting for the podium once, but I have yet to click a result which would change the place for me.” LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager “It’s good to race again immediately after such a strange race. We could have had both riders on the podium at Phillip Island so it’s good to move on from that. We were strong in the wet and in the dry but the strange weather spoiled our day. We go to Motegi confident that we can be very fast again. It is a special event and for us to win there is a very special feeling! Japan is a very important market for Ducati, so we want to do well for all the Ducatisti.” THE TRACK Twin Ring Motegi is stop-and-go in character with few high-speed corners. The track features plenty of slow turns linked by medium-length straights which puts the emphasis on braking and acceleration performance. Motegi hosted its inaugural Grand Prix, the Japanese GP, in 1999. From 2000 to 2003 the venue hosted the Pacific GP while the country’s older Suzuka track ran the Japanese GP until it was declared too dangerous. Twin Ring Motegi is so called because it features both a Grand Prix track and an Indy oval. Constructed by Honda in 1998 to celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary, the venue is located in the hills to the north west of Tokyo, between the cities of Mito and Utsonomiya. Motegi’s construction entailed a massive civil engineering project that included the razing of seven hills and the filling of two valleys. Lap record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1m 47.968s, 160.081kp/h, 99.470mph Pole position 2005: Capirossi, 1m 46.363s DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS LORIS CAPIROSSI Age: 33 (born April 4, 1973) Lives: Monaco Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP6 GP starts: 245 (75xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125) GP victories: 26 (4xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125) First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125) First GP: Japan, 1990 (125) Pole positions: 40 (7xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125) First pole: Australia, 1991 (125) World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998) Motegi 2005 results: Grid: pole. Race: 1st SETE GIBERNAU Age: 33 (born December 15, 1972) Lives: Switzerland Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP6 GP starts: 171 (76xMotoGP, 76×500, 19×250) GP victories: 9 (8xMotoGP, 1×500) First GP victory: Valencia, 2001 (500) First GP: Spain, 1993 (250) Pole positions: 13 (12xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: South Africa, 2000 (500) Motegi 2005 results: Grid: 7th Race: DNF More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone Motorsport: JAPANESE GP – LORDS OF THE TWIN RING Fresh from yet another podium-scoring result at the Australian Grand Prix, Bridgestone Motorsport heads home to Japan to confront the technical challenges of the Twin Ring Motegi for the third and final event of the intercontinental race trilogy. The Japanese Grand Prix has been one of success for Bridgestone, whose tyres have helped both Makoto Tamada and Ducati rider Loris Caprossi to victory in recent seasons. The 2006 event comes after Capirossi’s recent victory in Brno and second place in Sepang, as well as the excellent podium attained by Suzuki rider Chris Vermeulen at his home race on Phillip Island last weekend. With only three races left in this gruelling season, Bridgestone currently has five of its six riders occupying top twelve positions in the riders’ championship and is aiming to boost the accounts yet further with a range of competitive tyres in Motegi. The Tokyo-based tyre manufacturer will hope to tap into the competitiveness from Brno and Sepang by bringing similar specifications and compounds for evaluation in free practice, but will once again try out the latest developments with a range of newer specification tyres. Bridgestone derives a slight logistical advantage by racing nearer to home, one of the few events of the season for which the tyres are not shipped via its German service hub, but the recent demands of the back-to-back races do not permit the company from making the most of this rare luxury. Adding to the home flavour, Bridgestone will welcome two Japanese riders to its existing family as Naoki Matsudo and Kousuke Akiyoshi take part in the Japanese GP as wildcard entries for Kawasaki and Suzuki respectively. HIROSHI YAMADA – BRIDGESTONE MOTORSPORT – MOTORCYCLE RACING MANAGER “The Japanese Grand Prix is naturally a very important weekend for Bridgestone Corporation as our home race. Our manufacturing facility, which some of our MotoGP riders visited before last year’s race, is situated in Tokyo, so over 700 Bridgestone employees and guests will be visiting the Twin Ring Motegi to support our three teams this weekend. Our tyres have a good track record around Motegi and we can be confident of another strong performance, but the win is never guaranteed, so we will not be taking anything for granted. The circuit’s stop-go nature rewards a bike-tyre package that is able to support efficient braking into the corner and enable the rider to get on the power quickly at the exit. The medium lean angle that riders take through the 14 corners coupled with the stop-go nature of the track means that we will be closely monitoring the temperatures in our rear tyres, especially in the central section of the tyre. We will bring an assortment of compounds to allow each of our riders to try out a range of tyres in free practice. Some of these will be Brno and Malaysia-spec with some small adjustments, while we will also have newer specifications at our disposal to evaluate. The track is quite tough for riders, but Ducati, Kawasaki and Suzuki have all performed well in previous years, so we should be in good shape. We have taken victory twice previously, including last year’s outstanding performance from Loris and the Ducati team, so we know that a race win is well within our capabilities.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac D’Antin: LAST ROUND IN JAPANESE LAND FOR THE TEAM PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP We’re now at the last of the three extra-european races of this three weeks. After the intensive warmth in Malaysia and the cold weather in Australia, it’s time to fly to Japan before going back to Europe. The 15th race of the season will be on the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit. The German ALEX HOFMANN, after the good position he obtained during the race in Phillip Island, wants constancy and is dreaming about the Top Ten, while the Spanish JOSE LUIS CARDOSO wants to make a good race to get more points for the classification before the last two races that will take place in Portugal and Spain. The whole Team PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP is really motivated and the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat.” is already ready to go on track for the first session of free practice that will be on Friday 22 September at 10.00 a.m. in Japan (GMT + 9). LUIS D’ANTIN (Team Manager): “here we are, this is the final round of these three weeks. In Australia our work has been rewarded by the 13th position of HOFMANN, that ended the race as first of the DUNLOP riders. We will go on like this to get more points for the classification and finish the season in the best way”. ALEX HOFMANN #66: “Last year I didn’t finish the race as I crashed and then was forced to miss the four next races. A real pity as I had done a good job during the qualifying session. This year, I will do the maximum to obtain the best result as possible, the Japanese track is nice and, after the last race in Australia where I could have ended in the first ten riders, it’s important to go on making the maximum to end the season with the most points as possible. I can’t wait to ride on track”. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30: “It has been a long time since I was here for the last race, in 2001. It’s not a difficult track but a good acceleration and a right stability in the braking points are necessary. We will see what will happen, I hope that everything will go better than during the last two races, I would like to get some points before going back to Europe. I will make my best together with my Team”. CIRCUIT DETAILS The Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, Japan, consists of a 2,5 km oval and a 4,801 km road course with 14 corners (6 to the left and 8 to the right), constructed to international standards and built by Honda in 1997 to be the ultimate test facility. In 1999, it hosted its first Grand Prix and now will go on doing it until the safety improvements at Suzuka won’t be completed. The track has a comparatively long back straight but a series of slow corners and also two tunnels to allow an Indy Car style oval to run round the outside. It’s a Stop&Go track with lots of violent braking points, and that makes it really hard physically as well. Longest straight: 762m Wide: 12-15m Pole Position: left Direction: clockwise MotoGP – Circuit record: 1’47.968 (Loris Capirossi – 2005) MotoGP – Fastest Lap: 1’46”363 (Loris Capirossi – 2005) 2005 MotoGP Race: 1. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2. Max Biaggi (Honda) 3. Makoto Tamada (Honda) More, from a press release issued by Michelin: TWIN RING CHALLENGE AWAITS MICHELIN TITLE HOPEFULS A week after celebrating Michelin’s 350th premier-class bike Grand Prix victory in Australia the Michelin MotoGP crew readies itself for the Japanese GP, another vital event for the French tire company’s four World Championship hopefuls. Michelin men Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin), Valentino Rossi (Camel Yamaha Team YZRM1-Michelin), Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V-Michelin) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC211VMichelin) currently hold the top four positions in the points chase, having won all but two of 14 races so far this year. All 17 rounds of the MotoGP World Championship are important to this quartet of riders but Motegi is an extra special event for Michelin because Japan is the epicenter of the global motorcycle industry and also home to Michelin’s MotoGP partners, Honda and Yamaha. Victory there wins 25 points just like every other GP, but there’s a distinctive taste to Grand Prix success in Japan. Motegi was opened in 1998 and hosted its first bike GP the following year. The venue was christened Twin Ring Motegi because it features a traditional racetrack, used for MotoGP and other car and bike events, plus an IndyCar oval. The circuit layout is very ‘stop and go’, dominated by in-and-out corners which place the emphasis on how riders enter and exit corners, rather on how they get through them. MICHELIN’S RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGE OF MOTEGI “Motegi is a peculiar track,” says Nicolas Goubert, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “Traction is very important because there are many low-gear corner exits. I think engine power is also important for the same reasons, because although there aren’t any long straights you need good acceleration out of all the slow-speed corners. It is a big challenge for us because we don’t test there very often and it is the home race for one of our competitors. “The circuit isn’t very hard on tires and edge grip isn’t that important because all the corners are pretty tight and short, there are no really long corners where the bike is on the edge of the tires for a long time. We think our 2006 rear will help here but maybe not as much as at most other tracks because the tire is more about increasing tire footprint at more extreme lean angles. “Finding grip for accelerating out of the corners is the big thing at Motegi. Last year we made some good improvements compared to our previous visit, we had better consistency. Last time there Max (Biaggi, Repsol Honda RC211V-Michelin) fought Loris (Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici) for the lead for more than half the race, so we will see what we can do this time. “The circuit does demand quite a lot from the front tire because there is a lot of heavy braking into several tight corners, so you need a stronger-than-usual front construction, different to the construction we use at other tracks. But it’s only the centre of the tire that gets stressed, because the turn-in time into these tight corners is very short, the riders go very quickly from upright to full lean. “We will have to wait and see what the weather brings. September can be quite warm in Japan, just like it was at last year’s race, but there’s also the possibility of rain.” MICHELIN IN JAPAN The Japanese motorcycle market is huge and so is the Japanese motorcycle tire market with around six millions bike tires sold per annum in the country. The national biking scene is also very diverse, covering all kinds of powered two wheelers, from supersport bikes to scooters and from off-road bikes to super scooters. Michelin has one factory and an R&D centre in Japan, based in Ota City in the Gunma Prefecture. Nihon Michelin Tire Co., Ltd, established in 1975, employs about 1400 people. MOTEGI DATA Lap record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1:47.968, 160.081kp/h, 99.470mph Pole position 2005: Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 1:46.363 Recent winners at Motegi: 2005 Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici), 43:30.499 2004 Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V), 43:43.220 2003 Max Biaggi (Camel Honda Pons RC211V-Michelin), 43:57.590 2002 Alex Barros (West Honda Pons RC211V-Michelin), 44:18.913 2001 Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500-Michelin), 46:32.600 2000 Kenny Roberts (Telefonica Movistar Suzuki-Michelin), 46:23.327 1999 Kenny Roberts (Suzuki Grand Prix Team-Michelin), 51:54.386 (wet race) MICHELIN MOTOGP TIRE LOGISTICS The secret behind the success of Michelin’s MotoGP tires is their all-round performance potential. Logistics, however, are just as crucial in the quest for victory, particularly when races follow on from each other in quick succession. This year’s calendar takes teams from Malaysia to Australia and finally on to Japan in the space of just three weeks! Michelin provides tires for a total of 18 MotoGP machines for 9 riders at each race of the 17-round World Championship. Since the beginning of the 2006 season, Michelin runners have claimed 9 pole positions and 12 wins from 14 races. For the forthcoming visit to Asia and the Pacific Rim, Michelin’s tires were trucked to the airport in high security convoys. They were then loaded onto secure airfreight containers which left France on the Monday of the week preceding the Malaysian Grand Prix race week. Additional tires will be flown directly to Australia and Japan. To facilitate stock management and movements, all tires are identified by bar codes. The freight containing the tires and equipment needed for the paddock amounts to between 7 and 8 tons. Used tires are returned to Clermont-Ferrand after each race. Michelin’s MotoGP crew totals 16 staff: the program manager, five engineers, eight fitters, one press officer and one security guard to watch over the tires at night. Michelin takes around 1,000 tires to each GP. – Rear tires (60 percent). – Front tires (40 percent). Front tires are available in two profiles: 55 percent are ‘wide’ profiles and 45 percent are ‘narrow’ profiles. – 30 qualifying tires per race for all of Michelin riders. – The number of rain tires taken to each race fluctuates slightly as a function of the anticipated climate (slightly more are taken to Phillip Island where the chances of rain are higher). Rain tires account for around 10 percent of the total package. Michelin’s nine riders generally use between 200 and 300 tires in the course of a GP weekend. The other 700 tires allow Michelin to respond to all track and weather conditions. MICHELIN MotoGP RIDERS 2006 Colin Edwards, Valentino Rossi (Camel Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V-Michelin) Toni Elias, Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V-Michelin) Casey Stoner (Honda LCR RC211V-Michelin) Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V-Michelin) Kenny Roberts Jr (Team Roberts KR211V-Michelin