Alice French Grand Prix, Le Mans , May 13/14/15 2005, Preview DUCATI MARLBORO MEN AIM TO REAP OVERDUE REWARD. Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa return home to Europe following MotoGP’s first visit to China hoping for some pleasant early summer weather at legendary Le Mans. The past two GPs in China and Portugal were both affected by rain, preventing the team from showing its true potential. In China Capirossi qualified on the front row, just as Checa had done at Estoril a fortnight earlier, but their impressive speed wasn’t borne out by their results. “We hope to finally get the reward we deserve in France,” says Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. “We are hoping for the best – Carlos got his best result of 2004 at Le Mans and Loris should now be fully recovered from the ankle injury he suffered at Jerez. We go there in positive mood because, has we showed during the practices in Portugal and in China, we know that we can be very competitive.” Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli shares Suppo’s optimism heading into the fourth round of the 17-race World Championship. “When our bike was born in 2003 we had some trouble at stop-and-go tracks like Le Mans but we don’t anymore because the bike is much better balanced,” says Cecchinelli. “Maybe we sacrificed some of the advantage we used to have at very fast tracks but overall it’s a much better machine now. Our latest Desmosedici is very balanced, with strong braking and acceleration performance. All we want at Le Mans is consistent weather. We have new tyres this year, so we would like good weather all weekend, so we can finally prove the potential we have already shown.” IS CHECA’S LE MANS SPEED IN THE BLOOD? Carlos Checa goes well at Le Mans – the dashing Spaniard has twice finished on the podium in his last four visits to the circuit. And he aims to be back up there on May 15. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider has a couple of theories about his impressive speed at the tortuous French track. “I’m not really sure why I go well there, maybe it’s my riding style or maybe it’s because it’s in my blood,” he laughs. “My younger brother (David, reigning World Endurance Champion) won the Le Mans 24-hour race last month, so maybe the track just suits my family! I actually like the circuit – there’s a lot of fierce low-gear acceleration, a lot of heavy braking and I really enjoy the final section, which reminds me of a part of the Calafat track in Spain.” If Checa’s results have yet to mirror his impressive speed on his Desmosedici, the Spaniard says the bike does offer him the feedback he needs to go fast. Racers need to feel exactly what the tyres and the bike are doing when they are approaching the limit, so they known exactly where the limit is. “The connection between me and the bike is really good now,” he says. “My riding style is quite smooth but it seems I can be more aggressive on the Ducati, so I can push harder towards the limit because it gives me a wider ‘safety’ area. “It will be interesting to see how the bike works at Le Mans because we’ve worked on a couple of things which should help us around tight circuits. First, we have improved the bike’s behaviour under heavy braking. Second, we have improved steering into slow-speed corners, just through minor adjustments to geometry and balance.” LE MANS WINNER CAPIROSSI NOW 100% FIT Loris Capirossi is confident that he will be 100 per cent fit for Le Mans. The Italian Ducati Marlboro Team rider cracked a bone in his left ankle when he fell during practice for last month’s season-opening Marlboro Spanish GP which affected his riding during the first three GPs. “The ankle was already pretty good when we raced in China a couple of weeks back but it should be 100 per cent fit for Le Mans,” he says. “That’s a big relief for me and I’m really looking forward to riding the bike fully fit.” Capirossi has already won a Grand Prix at Le Mans, the French 250 GP way back in 1994, but he is not the track’s greatest fan. “Le Mans is a lot of fun on a 125 or 250 but it’s not very interesting on a really fast machine because it’s just accelerate, brake, accelerate, brake, accelerate.” he explains. “But there’s a couple of fun corners – the Musee left-hander and the very fast turn one, where you need to be very brave! Last year at Le Mans we made some big steps forward after a few difficult races. This year we return in much better shape, despite what the results suggest, so we should have a good weekend if the bike/tyre packages work well”. THE TRACK Le Mans is one of the world’s most famous motorsport venues, legendary for its 24-hour races. The French track, based in the Sarthe region a few hours south west of Paris, has been hosting World Championship motorcycle GPs on and off since 1969. The Bugatti circuit, very different from the longer 24-hour car track, returned to the GP calendar in 1999, since when the event has built a huge following in bike-mad France. Le Mans has undergone various layout changes and safety modifications over the past few years. The daunting high-speed first turn was tightened for the ’99 GP and the Musee left-hander was also modified to lower speeds. Further modifications were carried out before the 2002 event and the track was fully resurfaced for last year’s race. The circuit layout is very stop-and-go, with plenty of slow turns where braking and acceleration performance are primordial. Riders and their engineers therefore concentrate on honing their machines’ braking stability, as well as improving rear-end traction for the numerous hairpin exits. LE MANS: 4.180km/2.597 miles Lap record: Max Biaggi (Honda) 1m 34.088s, 159.935kmh/99.379mph Pole position 2004: Sete Gibernau (Honda), 1m 33.425s DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS LORIS CAPIROSSI Age: 32 (born April 4, 1973) Lives: Monaco Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP5 GP victories: 23 (1xMotoGP, 2×500, 12×250, 8×125) First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125) First GP: Japan, 1990 (125) GP starts: 219 (49xMotoGP, 59×500, 84×250, 27×125) Pole positions: 36 (3xMotoGP, 5×500, 23×250, 5×125) First pole: Australia, 1991 (125) World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998) Le Mans 2004 results: Grid: 9th. Race: 10th 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: 171 (50xMotoGP, 92×500, 27×250, 1×125) Pole positions: 3 (2xMotoGP, 1×500) First pole: Spain, 1998 (500) Le Mans 2004 results: Grid: 2nd. Race: 2nd For further information: www.ducaticorsepress.