DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM COMES TO SEPANG ON A HIGH Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa come to Malaysia this week, aiming to continue the Ducati Marlboro Team’s thrilling renaissance. Last Sunday in Japan Capirossi scored the team’s first MotoGP ‘triple crown’ – pole position, race victory and lap record – while Checa finished just one place off the podium in fourth. Capirossi’s Motegi success was further proof that the Ducati Marlboro Team is back to its very best, following his brilliant second-place finish at last month’s Czech GP. Now the Bologna-based squad looks forward to the Marlboro Malaysian Grand Prix, confident that the amazing performance of its Desmosedici V4 and Bridgestone tyres will keep its riders up front in Malaysia’s debilitating heat and humidity. “After finishing second at Brno we were really looking forward to Motegi, now after winning at Motegi we can’t wait to go racing at Sepang!” smiles Ducati MotoGP project leader Livio Suppo. “It’s good for us to race again so soon because both Loris and the team have some real momentum going. As Claudio (Domenicali, Ducati Corse CEO) said last week, Loris is a fighter with the heart of a lion, and it’s good to see that Carlos is also getting closer to the front. Our results at the last two races prove that our package is growing. Bridgestone are doing an unbelievable job – remember we only started working with them last November! So far this year we’ve scored three podiums and a win, so maybe now it’s easier for people to understand why we decided to join forces, we always knew their potential. Now we look forward to giving Bridgestone and our other technical partner Shell Advance more success over the final five races of the season.” Sepang is another great challenge for the Ducati Marlboro Team. The track features an interesting variety of corners that require machines to have plenty of everything: good power, good braking and good direction changing, especially on the throttle. Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli therefore understands that all-round performance is vital, plus user-friendliness. “Most important at Sepang is overall balance,” he affirms. “The bike needs to be comfortable and easy to handle because the riders are performing in gruelling heat and humidity, so we need to make it as easy as possible for them.” CAPIROSSI UP FOR PODIUM HAT TRICK Loris Capirossi celebrated his new deal with the Ducati Marlboro Team in the best possible style in Japan – total domination. Just days after agreeing his 2006 contract, the hard-riding Italian was a man on a mission at Motegi, taking pole position, race victory plus lap and race records. And he’ll be aiming to make it back-to-back wins and three podiums in a row this Sunday. “Motegi was an amazing day for us, an amazing weekend, in fact!” grins Capirossi, who also won the Ducati Marlboro Team’s maiden MotoGP victory at Catalunya, Spain, in June 2003. “Our rhythm was faster than the rest, in both practice and the race. I have to say thanks to the Ducati Marlboro Team and to Bridgestone, who have worked so incredibly hard to give me the package I need to win. This great victory confirms that I made the right decision to stay with the team in 2006!” Capirossi has high hopes of another great weekend at Sepang. The former 125 and 250 World Champion adores the Malaysian track, having won the 1999 Sepang 250 GP – beating Valentino Rossi – and finished second in the 2001 premier-class Sepang GP. “Sepang is a really great track, one of the best,” he says. “I really love it, because it’s very technical, with fast corners, slow corners, downhill parts and uphill parts, plus it’s so wide, which makes it good for fighting. It’s also got two long straights which should be good for us because our bike is always fast. We had a good time testing there during the winter – not particularly consistent but certainly very fast – and I know that the tyres have improved a lot since we were last there in February. “The weather conditions are special at Sepang – hot and humid – but I find it easy compared to Qatar, which is even hotter. But the heat isn’t a major concern for me, you just need to make sure you hydrate correctly before the race.” CHECA: ‘WE’VE GOT THE POWER’ Carlos Checa finished fourth at Motegi last Sunday, so he’ll be gunning for his first podium with the Ducati Marlboro Team at Sepang this weekend. That fourth-place finish was the Spaniard’s best result so far this year, confirming that he too is making good forward progress. “Of course I would’ve preferred to finish in the top three at Motegi, but at least the race confirmed that we are getting better,” says Checa. “The bike and the tyres are working really well now, so I feel we can be in the fight at Sepang.” Checa has made regular podium appearances in MotoGP’s only tropical event, taking third in the 1996 Malaysian 500 GP at Shah Alam, second in the 1998 500 GP at Johor and second in the 1999 and 2000 500 GPs at Sepang. “I like racing in the heat,” he says. “Of course, you need to be fit to race in these conditions, so you can be comfortable on the bike and concentrate for 50 minutes, but otherwise it’s no big deal. You just need to make sure you drink plenty. “Sepang is really nice. It’s open and fast, so you need a lot of horsepower, but we know we’ve got the power. It’s got tight turns and some very long turns, where the bike is at maximum angle for a long time, with brake on into the corner and gas on coming out. It’s a great track for sliding, the surface is so hot that it’s easier to slide, so you can have a lot of fun, though this isn’t so good for fast lap times. The heat isn’t a problem for the tyres, we have so much power that you can spin the tyres way too much on colder racetracks. If you choose the right tyres for the race at Sepang, it’s not a problem.” THE TRACK Sepang is the longest racetrack in MotoGP, now that Assen is being shortened. And the Malaysian venue isn’t just MotoGP’s longest circuit, it’s also one of the widest tracks in the world, putting riders and machines to the test with an excellent variety of corners and high-speed straights. Withering heat and humidity are further challenges, not only for riders and machines, but also for technicians and everyone else working in pit lane. Sepang hosted its first Grand Prix in April 1999 and was an instant hit with riders and teams. The state-of-the-art complex, carved out of the jungle adjacent to Kuala Lumpur’s brand-new international airport, took circuit and infrastructure design to a new level, combining a fast, safe track layout with ultra-impressive pit, media and corporate facilities. The venue replaced Malaysia’s original GP tracks at Shah Alam and Johor. Lap record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 2m 03.253s, 162.047km/100.691mph (2004) 2004 pole position: Rossi, 2m 01.833s DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS LORIS CAPIROSSI Age: 32 (born April 4, 1973) Lives: Monaco Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 24 (2xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125) First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125) First GP: Japan, 1990 (125) GP starts: 228 (58xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125) Pole positions: 37 (4xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125) First pole: Australia, 1991 (125) World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998) Sepang 2004 results: Grid: 11th. Race: 6th CARLOS CHECA Age: 32 (born October 15, 1972) Lives: London, England Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 2 (500) First GP victory: Catalunya, 1996 (500) First GP: Europe, 1993 (125) GP starts: 180 (60xMotoGP, 92×500, 27×250, 1×125) Pole positions: 3 (2xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: Spain, 1998 (500) Sepang 2004 results: Grid: 9th. Race: 9th