FIM MotoGP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia September 8, 2006 Friday’s Best Combined Practice Times: 1. Loris Capirossi (Duc GP06), 2:01.711, Bridgestone 2. Dani Pedrosa (Hon RC211V), 2:02.021, Michelin 3. Kenny Roberts (KR211V), 2:02.563, Michelin 4. John Hopkins (Suz GSV-R), 2:02.719, Bridgestone 5. Casey Stoner (Hon RC211V), 2:02.847, Michelin 6. Makoto Tamada (Hon RC211V), 2:02.918, Michelin 7. Valentino Rossi (Yam YZR-M1), 2:02.970, Michelin 8. Sete Gibernau (Duc GP06), 2:02.981, Bridgestone 9. Marco Melandri (Hon RC211V), 2:03.049, Michelin 10. Shinya Nakano (Kaw ZX-RR), 2:03.100, Bridgestone 11. Nicky Hayden (Hon RC211V), 2:03.174, Michelin 12. Colin Edwards (Yam YZR-M1), 2:03.355, Michelin 13. Randy de Puniet (Kaw ZX-RR), 2:03.418, Bridgestone 14. Chris Vermeulen (Suz GSV-R), 2:03.432, Bridgestone 15. Carlos Checa (Yam YZR-M1), 2:03.706, Dunlop 16. Toni Elias (Hon RC211V), 2:03.908, Michelin 17. Alex Hofmann (Duc GP05), 2:04.706, Dunlop 18. James Ellison (Yam YZR-M1), 2:05.403, Dunlop 19. Jose Luis Cardoso (Duc GP05), 2:05.958, Dunlop FIM 250cc GP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia September 8, 2006 Provisional Qualifying Results: Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Hector Barbera (Aprilia), 2:08.266 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia), 2:08.404) 3. Hiroshi Aoyama (KTM), 2:08.556 4. Roberto Locatelli (Aprilia), 2:08.902 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), 2:08.945 6. Alex de Angelis (Aprilia), 2:09.104 7. Shuhei Aoyama (Honda), 2:09.414 8. Martin Cardenas (Honda), 2:09.415 9. Yuki Takahashi (Honda), 2:09.583 10. Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia), 2:09.769 FIM 125cc GP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia September 8, 2006 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia), 2:12.846 2. Mika Kallio (KTM), 2:13.974 3. Mattia Pasini (Aprilia), 2:14.121 4. Joan Olive (Aprilia), 2:14.681 5. Hector Faubel (Aprilia), 2:14.711 6. Nicolas Terol (Derbi), 2:14.964 7. Lukas Pesek (Derbi), 1:15.043 8. Fabrizio Lai (Honda), 2:15.078 9. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Malaguti), 2:15.394 10. Sandro Cortese (Honda), 2:15.402 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: CAPIROSSI CONTINUES TO SHINE AS PEDROSA SUFFERS INJURY BLOW The humid Sepang Circuit opened for business today for the MotoGP World Championship, as they started the first practice sessions of a decisive three-race run. Loris Capirossi knocked more than one second off his morning time (the fastest of the first free practice session) to continue one step ahead of the pack in Malaysia. Ducati Marlboro’s Italian star carried on from his victorious Brno masterclass on day one with a 2’01.711 lap, ahead of Dani Pedrosa in second. However the young Spaniard’s participation in this weekend’s Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, and perhaps even in the following race in Australia, has been cast into serious doubt after he suffered a crash in the second free practice session at the Sepang Circuit. Repsol Honda’s Spanish rookie, who lies second in the championship, opened up a gash in his right knee after flying off his RC211V at the midway point in the session, and the awkward location of the injury means that the rider’s movement in his leg is severely limited. A small fracture in his left big toe adds to Pedrosa’s woes. He will be examined tomorrow morning by the Clinica Mobile team and his chances of competing in the 13th race of the 2006 season will be assessed. Third place went to Kenny Roberts Jr, ahead of countryman John Hopkins and last year’s 250cc race winner Casey Stoner. Makoto Tamada rounded off the top six ahead of Valentino Rossi, who lies around a second off Capirossi’s flying lap. The returning Sete Gibernau was eighth, with Marco Melandri and Shinya Nakano completing the fastest ten. Championship leader Nicky Hayden languished in eleventh place as he desperately aims to come back from disappointment in the Czech Republic. 250cc Hector Barbera topped off an excellent first day performance at the Sepang Circuit with a provisional pole, after a 2’08.266 lap put him at the head of the 250cc table. The Spaniard was joined at the top of the leaderboard once again by Jorge Lorenzo, his Fortuna Aprilia team-mate who had joined him in the top two this morning. The current championship leader, one and a half tenths behind Barbera, came in ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama, Roberto Locatelli, title rival Andrea Dovizioso and Alex de Angelis. Shuhei Aoyama, seventh, was more than a second slower than Barbera’s provisional pole lap, with Martin Cardenas, Yuki Takahashi and Sylvain Guintoli completing the top ten. 125cc Alvaro Bautista followed up on his fast early times to take provisional pole for the 125cc Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, clocking a 2’12.846 lap – more than a second faster than second placed Mika Kallio. Behind the two riders to break the 2’14 barrier, Mattia Pasini, Joan Olive, Hector Faubel and Nico Terol completed the top six. Lukas Pesek suffered a crash, but still finished seventh, ahead of Fabrizio Lai, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Sandro Cortese. The riders will be back on track tomorrow for the all-important qualifying sessions for the Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing: REVISED ENGINE INSPIRES CONFIDENCE IN KAWASAKI’S NAKANO Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano ended today’s free practice tenth fastest overall, but the 28-year-old Japanese rider is confident that the latest engine revision on his Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machine will lead to a significant improvement in his lap times ahead of tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session. Nakano started this morning’s hour-long free practice aboard a Ninja ZX-RR fitted with the older specification engine, but quickly switched to the latest version of Kawasaki’s MotoGP bike, on which he was immediately able to match his previous best lap time. Nakano’s initial comments were that the latest specification 990cc motor, which also features a revised exhaust system, offered a significant improvement in top speed along Sepang’s trademark twin straights, but that throttle response – especially out of slower turns – still required some refinement. The Japanese rider, together with his crew and engineers from Kawasaki in Japan, continued to make improvements to the ignition mapping and set-up of the engine throughout this afternoon’s free practice, but the increasingly hot conditions conspired against Nakano, as he tried to improve his lap time towards the end of the hour-long session. Nakano remains confident that the latest specification Ninja ZX-RR engine will prove an advantage at the Sepang circuit, once he and Kawasaki’s technical staff have had more chance to refine the set-up during tomorrow’s two hours of track time. Kawasaki’s MotoGP rookie, Randy de Puniet, finished 13th fastest overall, after struggling through both of today’s free practice sessions with front brake problems on his Ninja ZX-RR. With an inconsistent feeling from the front brake, the 25-year-old Frenchman was unable to string together the consistent laps required to collect the data necessary to improve the overall set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR. Although disappointed to have effectively lost a whole day of track time, de Puniet is confident that his crew can come up with a solution to the brake problems overnight, to give him at least two track sessions tomorrow during which to refine his set-up and identify a suitable race tyre for Sunday’s 21-lap Malaysian Grand Prix. Shinya Nakano: 10th – 2’03.100 “Our revised engine is working well here, and there is a definite improvement in top speed on Sepang’s two long straights. However, we’ve only been running this engine for two hours today, so there is still some set-up work to be done tomorrow. At the moment we’re about 70% there with the set-up – it’s still a little bit too aggressive out of the turns – but I’m confident that, with more track time tomorrow, we can improve things in this area. We also worked today on refining the chassis balance, which is important at this circuit, as well as trying a selection of tyres from Bridgestone. Conditions this afternoon were very difficult physically, because the temperature has increased considerably during the course of the day, but I was still a little disappointed not to improve my lap time towards the end of the session. Having said that, I’m happy overall with what we’ve achieved today, and I’m confident that we will make further improvements tomorrow.” Randy de Puniet: 13th – 2’03.418 “Today was not the start to the weekend I was hoping for. It’s strange, because the bike felt good during the early part of this morning’s free practice session, but then as the pace increased we started to suffer with front brake problems. The braking force is just not consistent from lap to lap and corner to corner, which doesn’t inspire confidence at a fast track like Sepang, and also makes it difficult to work on the set-up of the bike, because it’s impossible to lap consistently. We’ve made changes to try and eliminate the problem, but without success so far. We need to sit down tonight and go through the data from today, to see if we can come up with a solution. But, while I’m confident my crew can fix the problem, it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve effectively lost one whole day of track time, and I think this will be difficult to make up tomorrow.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “For Shinya it was a very positive start to the day, as his lap times on the revised engine were similar to those on the older specification motor. With any major revision to the engine there is extensive set-up work to be done, so I’m confident that we’ll be able to make further improvements with more track time tomorrow, which should allow Shinya to close the gap to the top of the timesheet ahead of qualifying. With Randy we need to identify the problem that’s causing his lack of feeling on the brakes. We made many changes to the brake set-up on both his bikes today, but the problem has persisted and we now need to look a little more deeply into the causes using the data collected from his bikes today. Until we’ve fixed this problem, it will be difficult for Randy to progress with setting up his bike for this track.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Marlboro: DUCATI MARLBORO MAN CAPIROSSI SETS BLAZING PACE Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi has started the Marlboro Malaysian Grand Prix the way he means to carry on, setting a blazing pace to lead both of today’s practice sessions, run in typically steamy hot conditions. Following his dominant victory in last month’s Czech GP, Capirossi is aiming to take another bite out the points leaders this weekend to put himself right back in the hunt for the 2006 MotoGP crown. Meanwhile team-mate Sete Gibernau is making an impressive comeback following further surgery to the collarbone he broke in June’s Catalan GP. The Spaniard first returned to action at July’s German GP but the plate screwed to his broken left collarbone later cracked, forcing him to undergo another operation which meant he had to miss the Czech GP. He last rode a bike at the US GP on July 23. LORIS CAPIROSSI, ‘provisional pole’, 2m 01.711s “We started with one bike using a set-up based on what we used at Brno, the other with a set-up similar to what we ran here during winter tests. I preferred some characters of each, so we are working to create the best combination. Halfway through the afternoon session we did encounter some problems but my guys are working really well, so we quickly found the right way again. We are working well together and getting the results we deserve but we have to stay united and focused because our target is to stay in front of the others. Today I went faster than I managed on qualifiers last year though partly because it’s cooler now. I don’t think it will be possible to go much faster than today but we will keep working to allow me to be more natural on the bike. Even though Friday results aren’t so important I want to dedicate today to my manager Carlo Pernat who isn’t here because of a family bereavement. He will be here tomorrow which is great news because I miss having him with me.” SETE GIBERNAU, 8th fastest, 2m 02.981s “I’m quite happy with how things are going, though I’m not fully physically fit yet. On the bike I get tired quite quickly because I’ve not been riding for a long time but mentally I’m okay. I should probably never have raced at Laguna but I was there and I wanted to do my best. That weekend the plate over my collarbone was broken so it was pinching every nerve and every muscle, so I couldn’t use the arm. The arm is still weak now, though only because I’ve not been able to follow my usual training programme. The bone is much better. It’s going to take time, so for me to be close to the top guys on the first day here gives a lot of credit to Ducati and to Bridgestone who are doing a great job. The guys in the team are helping me out a lot once again, so I want to thank Ducati for all the support they’ve given me before I came here and now that I am here. My congratulations also to Loris who is already really fast.” Afternoon session temperatures: Ambient: 32 degrees. Track: 45 degrees More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: ROSSI AND EDWARDS BEGIN SET-UP CHALLENGE IN SEPANG HEAT Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards completed a hard day’s work with their Yamaha YZR-M1 machines today, as preparations got underway for the Malaysian Grand Prix with two free practice sessions. Both riders were eager to test the performance of their bikes at this circuit after a positive recent test in the Czech Republic, however it quickly emerged that the setting the team found at Brno was not as well suited to this layout or track temperatures in excess of 45ºC, which put the tyres under extreme stress. After making dramatic changes to the bike for the afternoon session, reigning World Champion Rossi was able to knock almost a full second off his time within the first six laps, giving him renewed confidence after a disappointing morning when he could only manage the eleventh fastest time. Edwards suffered similar problems but was unable to solve them in time for an assault on the top positions today. The American is hoping to find a quick solution in tomorrow morning’s final free practice before qualifying takes place in the afternoon. Last year’s winner Loris Capirossi (Ducati) set the pace today, dipping under pole record time with a lap of 2’01.711. There was bad news, however, for fellow title candidate Dani Pedrosa (Honda), who suffered a knee injury in a high-speed crash this afternoon. VALENTINO ROSSI (7th 2’02.970; 41 laps) “It’s been a difficult first day more so in the morning than the afternoon, which means we are working in the right way. I was confident after the Brno test, especially about the tyres and the way they are working now with our M1. Unfortunately in the conditions we have found here that setting doesn’t work so well and we had a few problems with tyre life. So in the afternoon basically we adapted the setting using the data we gathered in the January tests, when I was very fast, and things improved a lot. Tomorrow we’ll move even closer to that setting and I’m very confident we can make a big improvement again. Loris was very fast today and it looks like it will be a tough challenge to beat him, but we have good base data for this circuit and I’m sure we can get back to the pace I know I am capable of here.” COLIN EDWARDS (12th 2’03.355; 41 laps) “That was a really hard day and not what we were hoping for at all. I’m pretty disappointed after the good test we had at Brno because I expected to be in good shape from the start here. I couldn’t find the right set-up today and there was no way for me to ride the bike properly. We’re going to have to work in a completely different direction tomorrow and try to sort the situation out before qualifying. Valentino seems to have improved by going back towards the settings from January, despite the fact that the bike we have now is very different from the one we had then, so maybe this is the way to work. We will have a think about things tonight and start again tomorrow!” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “Today everyone has had to work very hard! Both riders have been testing different things and now we have to put it all altogether to find the right package and make sure we are competitive both in tomorrow afternoon’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race. Valentino is very close to the top and I think with a little bit more work he can be in good shape tomorrow. Colin is struggling a little at the moment but hopefully he too can improve in the morning. Tomorrow the weather might change things but we hope that it stays dry so that we can continue to make progress.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac D’Antin: HOFMANN AND CARDOSO WORK FOR THE RACE IN MALAYSIA The PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP team begins the final push of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship season with fierce determination during the first two practice sessions at the Sepang circuit. The ever-optimistic ALEX HOFMANN worked very hard in conjunction with his crew to find the best setting for his DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat” with DUNLOP tyres, posting the 17th fastest time of the day with a 2’04.706. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO wants to end the season with good results, ending the second session in 19th place with a time of 2’05.958, and having focused on finding the optimum bike set-up which will allow him to race to his full potential in Sunday’s Grand Prix. Tomorrow, there is a third free practice session which precedes the official qualifying session at 14:00, and every minute will count as both riders continue to strive for the best results possible. ALEX HOFMANN #66 (17° – 2’04.706): “I am very happy to be back home with my team after a nice experience with the DUCATI factory team in Brno. I wanted to start working again with my technicians, and today we tested several tires looking for consistency during the race. We used almost every possibility at our disposal to discover more grip from the rear. The whole team worked hard, but we have to take more steps forward to find the consistent traction we will need during the race – which will be quite difficult because of the warmth and humidity. Tomorrow, we are testing other tires and pushing to lower our times for a good performance on raceday”. JOSE LUIS CARDOSO #30 (19° – 2’05.958): “We improved a lot with respect to this morning’s session, thanks to the job of our technicians on the bike’s set-up. I’m having some problems with the grip of the rear that’s forcing me to ride more conservatively. While the bike is sliding I’m losing time. The soft tyre seems to be the better choice, while the hard one has less grip. Tomorrow we will work very carefully on tire selection, and I hope to find the best one for the race. We will also do a long practice run to verify our final choice”. EMANUELE MARTINELLI Track Engineer of Alex Hofmann: ” During the today’s free practices we tried to find the best race tires for Alex. We tried to improve the rear grip using almost all of the suspension combinations available to us, but we were unable solve the problem. The aim for tomorrow is to continue working on the race set-up”. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: BRIDGESTONE MAKES STRONG START AS CAPIROSSI TAKES CHARGE Malaysian Grand Prix – Free Practice Bridgestone-shod Ducati rider Loris Capirossi picked up from where he left off in Brno by setting the pace on the opening day of this weekend’s Malaysian GP in Sepang. The Italian took charge in style by breaking his pole position record from 2005 on race tyres to finish three-tenths-of-a-second clear of his nearest challenger, Dani Pedrosa. Capirossi’s best lap of 2m01.711s was 0.02s faster than his pole time from last season and one second faster than his pace-setting morning time. All three of Bridgestone’s teams, Ducati, Suzuki and Kawasaki, enjoyed strong presence within the top half of the field in today’s free practice sessions. Suzuki’s John Hopkins was within a second of Capirossi’s best lap to claim the fourth quickest time (2m02.710s), while Capirossi’s team-mate Sete Gibernau returned to form from his recent injury woes to clock the eighth quickest time of the day (2m02.981s). Shinya Nakano rounded off the top ten (2m03.100s) with an encouraging performance for Kawasaki. His team-mate Randy de Puniet and Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen finished the day just 0.014s apart in 13th (2m03.418s) and 14th (2m03.432s) respectively. Shinji Aoki Bridgestone Motorsport – Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tire Development “That was a pretty trouble-free and encouraging day for Bridgestone. The fact that Loris was able to better his pole position time from last season in race trim is impressive. We evaluated a selection of different tyre specifications today in order to gauge the correct direction for the rest of the weekend. The track conditions have a big influence on tyre performance at Sepang and the slightest fluctuation in temperature has a dramatic effect on the overall lap time. As always at Sepang, the circuit was somewhat dirty and not as hot during the morning session, but as rubber went down and the track rose to 45°C in the afternoon session, the lap times dropped significantly. While we are satisfied with the results of each of our three teams, today was about obtaining an initial feeling from the tyres and a clearer picture will only be revealed tomorrow when we begin the endurance and longevity tests over race distance. That said, to see Ducati, Suzuki and Kawasaki consistently in the top ten throughout the day certainly bodes well for Bridgestone’s Malaysian Grand Prix.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Resuls Pos. Rider Motorcycle Best Lap Time Gap P1 Loris Capirossi Ducati 2m01.711s Quickest P4 John Hopkins Suzuki 2m02.710s +0.999s P8 Sete Gibernau Ducati 2m02.981s +1.270s P10 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 2m03.100s +1.389s P13 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 2m03.418s +1.707s P14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 2m03.432s +1.721s Weather: Air 32°C, Track 45°C, Humidity 30% (afternoon session) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Top four pace for Hopkins in Malaysia Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins recorded the fourth fastest time during today’s free practice sessions at the Sepang International Circuit, in preparation for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Hopkins (P4, 41 laps) had shown good pace during this morning’s session, finishing fifth quickest. The Anglo-American star stepped up a gear in the afternoon to clock a time of 2’02.710. His fastest lap was also well inside the current lap record and bodes well for the rest of the weekend. Chris Vermeulen (P14, 2’03.432, 36 laps) is suffering with a head cold that was aggravated by the high humidity at Sepang and forced him to end the afternoon session early. The rookie Australian worked hard with his crew on set-up as he battled against the illness. By the end of the second session he had bettered his morning time by well over a second and is confident of making a recovery for tomorrow. Today’s sessions were held in dry and warm conditions with track temperatures reaching 45°C. Loris Capirossi on his Bridgestone shod Ducati set the quickest time. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more practice session tomorrow morning followed by the important afternoon qualifying session. Sunday’s 21-lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “Basically this morning went pretty well. It was good to get back out there and lay some rubber down. I like this track quite a lot and it was good to get some laps in. We have some new parts from Suzuki and they seemed to work well and we were also able to get well on with the tyre test ready for Sunday. This afternoon was completely different though. I had a malfunction with my drink bottle that is fitted inside my race suit and ended up with a sticky energy drink all over me. It cost us a bit of time as I tried to fix it myself out on track and I lost a few laps but you have to try out these things! That left me a bit unhappy – we never really got into a rhythm and didn’t get a lot of work done. It was almost like having a rain session! But we still ended up fourth so it shows we are on the pace and should do pretty good here. Tomorrow we will try to continue where we left off this morning and keep working hard and find the best tyre for the race.” Chris Vermeulen: “Today was quite hard work as I have been suffering with a cold and it really sapped my energy. I have visited the clinic and had some treatment and hopefully I can shake it off overnight. We were only 0.9 of a second off the top three and that lap was not a difficult one to do, so I know we are capable of a better time and we will be pushing as hard as we can tomorrow to achieve better.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s been a difficult but promising first day for the team. Bridgestone looks to be repeating the promise shown here 12 months ago and in particular our front tyre durability is much improved from then, and from the winter tests. Chris struggled to find his rhythm and a good setting for the first session and a half, but as he got himself dialed into the circuit and Tom got the bike set-up working well, his times became a lot more competitive later on. Unfortunately he has a head cold which is affecting his performance and his main focus is now to get that cleared up for tomorrow. “John’s been quick all day but he is still not happy with his bike so that is encouraging for him improving further tomorrow. He still needs to clear up a few settings issues that are restricting him and I believe he can go a lot better over the weekend. The fastest two guys out there seem to have a lot of pace – let’s hope we can close the gap tomorrow!” More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: FINAL STRETCH UNDERWAY IN MALAYSIA The sound of MotoGP four-stroke machines bellowed around the Sepang circuit today after a three-week break as the first day of practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix got underway in searing heat. FORTUNA HONDA riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elías endured something of a difficult day and were forced to settle for eleventh and sixteenth place respectively. Marco Melandri, who enjoyed a positive first session in the morning, when he lapped fourth fastest, suffered a crash in the afternoon which he blamed on the fatigue caused by the demanding climatic conditions. His team-mate Toni Elías spent the day working through a series of set-up difficulties that prevented him from setting a better lap time. MARCO MELANDRI (11th , 2’03″248): “In the morning we did a good job but in the afternoon when we tried something new we didn’t get the result we were hoping for. Despite that I am still confident I can have a good race on Sunday. We’re not far off the top times and we have room for improvement. Ten minutes from the end of the session I got the wrong gear and crashed but luckily I wasn’t hurt.” TONI ELIAS (16th, 2’03″908): “It’s been a tough start, especially because of the difficult conditions we had to ride in today. We still have a day left and we need to use it to improve on my speed through the corners. I’m confident and I think we can look forward to a good race.”