KAWASAKI UNVEIL NEW LIVERY IN PHILLIP ISLAND Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet were back in green at Phillip Island today, as the Kawasaki Racing Team unveiled the new 2006 Ninja ZX-RR livery during the opening day of a three-day test at the Australian circuit. Having suffered tyre problems during the race at Phillip Island three months ago, Shinya Nakano opted to run a new rear tyre from Bridgestone – with positive results – while he worked on refining the set-up of his all-new Ninja ZX-RR to suit the characteristics of the fast and flowing Australian circuit. The 27-year-old Japanese rider experienced chatter from the rear end of his Ninja ZX-RR during today’s test, but is confident that this is a problem that can be eliminated by his crew overnight. Nakano’s fastest lap during the opening day of testing was an improvement on his best race lap at the Phillip Island circuit, and the Kawasaki rider is confident that there are more improvements to come over the next two days. For Nakano’s Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, today was his first experience of the Phillip Island circuit aboard the Ninja ZX-RR. The 24-year-old Frenchman adapted quickly to the demands of wrestling a MotoGP bike around the twists and turns of the 4.448km Phillip Island track, but his attempts at a fast lap were hampered by the same chatter problems affecting his teammate. A switch to his second bike for the afternoon session eliminated the chatter problem, and allowed de Puniet to close to within 0.6s of his more experienced Kawasaki teammate during his final ten laps. Both Kawasaki riders will focus on important tyre testing with Bridgestone over the course of the next two days. Shinya Nakano: #56 – 1’31.8 (75 Laps) “We tried different suspension and engine management settings on the bike, and we finished today with a good base setting on the bike. There is still a small problem with chattering from the rear, but we think this is caused by a combination of suspension settings and the rear tyre, and we have some ideas on how to fix this for tomorrow. We had some problems with the right hand side of the tyre during the race here last year, so today I tested a new rear tyre from Bridgestone that was much improved. We had to push hard today to do as many laps as possible, because there is some concern about the weather; it changes so quickly here. Hopefully it will stay dry for the tyre tests with Bridgestone over the next two days.” Randy de Puniet: #17 – 1’32.4 (101 Laps) “This is a new circuit for me on the MotoGP bike, so today has been a steep learning curve again. I had some chatter problems for most of the day, which we’re still working to sort out, but I switched to my second bike in the afternoon, and this felt a lot better. It was on this bike that I set my fastest lap of the day. I think we will continue with this bike tomorrow for the tyre tests with Bridgestone. This is a very different circuit to Sepang, and I’m still adapting my style to suit aboard the Ninja ZX-RR, but I’m confident that my lap times will continue to improve over the remaining two days of testing.” Naoya Kaneko: Technical Manager “Today has been mainly about finding a set-up on the 2006 Ninja ZX-RR machines to suit the characteristics of the Phillip Island circuit. Both riders suffered from a small amount of chatter, but this we can resolve with some changes to the suspension settings. Both riders have also tested revised engine management settings, again to try and find the best balance for the bike around Phillip Island, which is a circuit very different in character to Sepang. At the race here last year we had some tyre issues, so the main focus of the test over the next two days will be to evaluate the many new tyres that Bridgestone have brought to this test.” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: MotoGP test Phillip Island, Australia Day one of three-day test January 31, 2006. Melandri tops time sheets on opening day of Phillip Island test MotoGP 2006 pre-season testing moved to phase two with the majority of teams continuing their race preparations in Australia. On a blustery day with a strong wind blowing up the main straight at the 4.448 km circuit the Honda ‘Young Guns’ were the men to beat with there RC211V riders topping the time sheets. Fortuna Honda rider Marco Melandri was the fastest Honda RCV man on the opening day of the three-day test. Italian Melandri set a lap time of 1m 30.72s, just four/tenths of a second outside his own lap record. Melandri’s team mate, Spaniard Toni Elias has been working to a carefully prepared pre-season test schedule designed to give him a complete overview of precisely what he can expect from his RC211V during his debut season aboard a Honda. Marco Melandri worked to the same schedule in his RCV debut season and was richly rewarded with second place in the 2005 championship. The Repsol Honda team were on the pace almost immediately. With rain forecast for tomorrow team riders Nicky Hayden, pole sitter at the Australian GP in 2005, and reigning 250cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa put in a staggering number of laps during the day. Hayden tested a range of chassis settings in combination with various front forks setting his fastest lap on lap 92 of his 114-lap day aboard the 990cc five-cylinder four-stroke Honda. Pedrosa, making his MotoGP class debut at the circuit, set his best time on lap 97 of his 111-lap marathon. He worked on improving his feeling for the RCV while front tyre testing for Michelin. Young Australian Casey Stoner was in fine form on home ground and, despit feeling sick during the morning Stoner got his head down and put in a solid performance that delivered third fastest time of the day behind Melandri and Hayden. The LCR Honda rider made his best showing on the RCV since he made the switch to MotoGP following his second place in last season’s 250cc world championship. His best was a fastest lap at 1m 30.00s flat. Kenny Roberts Jnr continued to unravel the mysteries of his all-new Honda powered KR211V Team Roberts machine. Roberts Jnr continued working with the first prototype chassis produced by the team the new, stiffer chassis brought to Phillip Island will be tested on the final day of the test. With only one machine available to him Roberts Jnr completed just 41 laps but his lap time at Phillip Island was more than impressive for a prototype machine. For Konica Minolta Honda rider Makoto Tamada it was his first day back at work in 2006. The popular Japanese rider missed the Sepang test session of last week but was quickly up to speed setting a respectable lap time of 1m 31.88s in a late flourish of fast laps. Tamada completed 55 laps on his initial shake down session of the new season and announced himself to be ‘Pleasantly surprised’ with the performance of the latest version of the RC211V. Honda rider lap times and quotes: Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 1m 30.72s – 72 laps. “The bike worked very well today. At the Sepang test we found the right direction to work in and today concentrated on the geometry of the bike and the weight distribution looking for a base setting that will be good for all tracks. We need to work on the front suspension to get a better feeling but I feel quite satisfied with what we did today. I am beginning to find rhythm without pushing too hard.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 30.94s – 114 laps. “We haven’t had too much time to rest after Sepang, but it’s good to come here and keep working with the bike in a very different track. The conditions today were very good and we did many laps, working a lot with the setting because the forecast for tomorrow is rain, so we definitely went down and go ahead trying to choose some stuff. I’m pretty satisfied with some of the things we’d found, some stuff that I liked in Malaysia worked well here, so we are happy about that. We can really eliminate some chassis geometry and different things we tried. At the end, I did six or seven laps with the Brno machine just to test old tyres. I worked also with the suspension, I tried some different forks to be more stable on braking”. Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 1m 31.00s – 75 laps. “Everything was quite good today. This morning I was sick but after some medication I immediately felt better. I made 75 laps and worked especially on bike no. 2 getting very good results as I was third fastest for the whole day. Basically we had some problems on bike number two but at the end of the day I was consistent and I could go faster. The weather conditions are not so clear and I think it’s going to rain tomorrow we will see what we can do”. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1 m 31.49s – 111 laps. “We are improving step by step and I’m happy because Phillip Island is very different than Sepang. In Malaysia we had a very good job and I hope to have a step up here, as well. Today it was a little bit windy, but we had a good time to practice and we’ve be able to test which parts of the bike are working good for me here compares to Malaysia. It’s strange to be here without crowd; we are far from home, but this test will help us to understand more and more the bike. I’m less tired here than in Malaysia because the circuit is shorter and the temperatures are not so high. At the beginning I started slowly, but we have improved a lot during the day and this is the most important thing. The bike slides a lot on the rear, especially in the last two corners, but it also happened in 250 cc. We also tried different front Michelin tyres and we focus doing as much laps we can on a very special circuit. I’m pretty happy with this first day of testing”. Makoto Tanaka – Repsol Honda Team Manager “Dani has done a very good job today. At this moment he is improving step by step, consistently and here it was important begin well because he doesn’t like this circuit very much. He is coming up and I’m very satisfied. Nicky has tried many things, his lap time is no so bad. We had a good day, and I hope the same weather for tomorrow”. Kenny Roberts Jnr, Team Roberts KR211V: 1m 31.65s – 41 laps. “We are still working with the original chassis trying to gather data before we switch to the new frame on Wednesday. We only have one bike here so we have not done as many laps as we would have liked to. I spent a lot of time in the pits today but I’m happy with the lap time.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 31.88s – 55 laps. “I’m happy to be back on my RC211V again and to restart appraising on track the ability of the other riders I will have to face during the coming season races. I met my team and I really appreciate the atmosphere full of warmth and of reciprocal respect where every member can express his professionalism. The new bike has been a pleasant surprise. I was informed about the evolutions prepared by the Honda technicians and I must say that the potential seems to be definitely high. Today I have set myself the task not to force the pace. My performance has risen naturally during the day and this is the sign that my feeling with the 2006 RC211V has been, immediately, very good.” Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 1m 32.4s – 100 laps. “To come back to a track new to me with the RCV I found it difficult to get comfortable on the bike. After the lunch break things got a little better with the set up. We are looking for a base setting that will be good for all tracks. We worked on the general chassis and suspension settings but it has been difficult to find the best results so far.” More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: THE FORTUNA HONDA TEAM BACK TO WORK AT PHILLIP ISLAND Marco Melandri was the fastest rider on track while Toni Elias made his debut with the RC211V on the Australian track. Phillip Island (Australia), Tuesday, January 31st 2006 – MotoGP action resumes at Philip Island, Australia for the first day of the second test session in preparation of the 2006 season. It was an important test session for both riders of the FORTUNA HONDA TEAM: Marco Melandri worked in particular at the weight distribution of the bike, finding interesting solutions. He lapped with a good rhythm, scoring the best lap of the day. Toni Elias continued his step-by step approach, working to a carefully prepared pre-season test schedule designed to give him a complete overview of precisely what he can expect from his RC211V during his debut season. The opening day of the Australian test session was characterized by generally cloudy sky and strong wind, typical for this area. MARCO MELANDRI (92 laps, 1’30″72): “The bike worked very well today. At the Sepang test we found the right direction to work in and today we concentrated on the geometry of the bike and the weight distribution looking for a base setting that will be good for all tracks. We need to work on the front suspension to get a better feeling but I feel quite satisfied with what we did today. I am beginning to find rhythm without pushing too hard.” TONI ELIAS (100 laps, 1’32″20): “To come back to a track new to me with the RCV I found it difficult to get comfortable on the bike. After the lunch break things got a little better with the set up. We are looking for a base setting that will be good for all tracks. We worked on the general chassis and suspension settings and we continue our step by step schedule.” Temperatures: Air 24°C – Asphalt 34°C Unofficial lap times 1) Marco Melandri (Honda) 1’30.72 2) Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’30.94 3) Casey Stoner (Honda) 1’31.00 4) Sete Gibernau (Ducati) 1’31.27 5) Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1’31.49 6) Kenny Roberts (KR) 1’31.50 7) Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1’31.61 8) Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1’31.88 9) Shinja Nakano (Kawasaki) 1’32.04 10) Toni Elias (Honda) 1’32.20 11) Randy DePuniet (Kawasaki) 1’32.49 11) Josè Luis Cardoso (Ducati) 1’32.78 12) Alex Hoffman (Ducati) 1’32.90 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Loris Capirossi returns to the track where he had a spectacular crash in 2005 while Sete Gibernau continues his familiarisation with the new Desmosedici at Phillip Island. Phillip Island (Australia), Tuesday 31 January 2006 – Five days after the end of the first 2006 test session at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, the Ducati Marlboro Team has now moved to the spectacular Phillip Island track in Australia for its next test. Sete Gibernau completed his first laps at the Australian circuit with the new Desmosedici, while Loris Capirossi returned to the track for the first time since last October, when his spectacular crash in Australian GP free practice forced him to miss the next two races. The weather was cloudy in the morning but the skies cleared up in the afternoon and the entire day was characterized by the typical blustery conditions of the island circuit. Gibernau focussed mainly on chassis and tyre set-up for his Desmosedici and after reaching a satisfactory feeling the Spanish rider is now searching for the right set-up to enable him to lap constantly at a quick pace. Sete Gibernau (71 laps), best time 1m31.27s “Today was dedicated mainly to tyre and chassis settings. On this track the engine braking is very important and it has to have different characteristics for the long fast curves and the Honda hairpin. We must make the most of the remaining two days to find a good compromise that will allow us to put in a continuous sequence of quick laps. Bridgestone also has a full programme of work that includes testing new tyres tomorrow”. Loris Capirossi also put in a lot of laps on a circuit that he particularly likes, despite the memories of his crash last October. Loris Capirossi (74 laps), best time 1m31.60s “Today we did a lot of work on the set-up of my Desmosedici GP6 and with the new tyres that Bridgestone brought along: things are going quite well, but we’re still missing something that prevents me from going as quick as I would like. For sure, this circuit has completely different characteristics to Sepang, where we were last week and where we have always been at the top of the timesheets. However we still have two more days work ahead of us, and we’ll use them to find the best possible set-up”. The Ducati Marlboro Team will continue development work on the new Desmosedici bike and the tyres at the Phillip Island circuit for two more days. Temperature: air 21° min./28° C max. – track 26° min./36° C max. Unofficial Times: 1) Marco Melandri (Honda), 1m30.79s; 2) Nicky Hayden (Honda), 1m30.99s; 3) Casey Stoner (Honda), 1m31.07s; 4) Sete Gibernau (Ducati), 1m31.27s; 5) Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1m31.45s; 6) Kenny Roberts Jr. (KR), 1m31.50s ; 7) Loris Capirossi (Ducati), 1m31.60s ; 8) Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki), 1m31.86s; 9) Toni Elias (Honda), 1m32.23s; 10) Makoto Tamada (Honda), 1m32.40s; 11) Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki)1m32.49s; 11) Josè Luis Cardoso (Ducati), 1m32.78s; 12) Alex Hoffman (Ducati), 1m32.90s.