FIM MotoGP World Championship Motegi, Japan September 26, 2008 Free Practice One & Two Combined Results: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.121 2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:48.194 3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:48.510 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:48.770 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:48.779 6. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.794 7. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:48.800 8. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.945 9. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.974 10. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:49.149 11. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:49.190 12. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:49.197 13. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:49.344 14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:49.424 15. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:49.505 16. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:49.664 17. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:50.131 18. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:50.158 19. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:50.879 More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: PROBLEMS ARISE FOR LORENZO AS TRACK DRIES OUT AT MOTEGI After his first ever wet-weather podium in Indianapolis, Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo continued with his newly-found liking for riding in the rain with a strong performance in this morning’s wet first practice session. However he ran into problems once the track dried out this afternoon and finished the first day in Japan in 15th position. The young Spaniard spent time at the top of the time sheets this morning before finishing the session in fourth, but the rain stopped soon after and the track had dried out by the time second practice began. Lorenzo immediately felt he was lacking in rear grip on his M1 and, despite trying a range of Michelin tyres, he was unable to improve the situation enough to be able to set the fast times he wanted. Together with his team however he is confident that he will be able to improve the situation tomorrow. His team-mate Valentino Rossi meanwhile made a strong start to his weekend, finishing second this morning and third this afternoon. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 15th Time: 1’49.505 Laps: 42 “Today has been strange because usually I’m not so fast in the wet but fast in the dry; today was the opposite! I don’t really know what happened this afternoon but I felt like I didn’t have enough grip in the rear on the entrance to the corner and so I didn’t have enough confidence to go fast. It felt a bit like in Donington and Assen. We’re working hard now in the team and together with Michelin and we gathered a lot of data so I hope that tomorrow we will be able to find a way to improve it. I know that I also need to work on my riding style a bit for this track. Anyway, it seems that tomorrow it will be hotter so I think this will help us as well.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “This morning was good but unfortunately this afternoon was more difficult for us, and we have some problems. The main issue is with the rear grip and so we need to make a detailed check of the data to try to understand where we’re going wrong. It’s disappointing after the last two races but it’s only Friday and we have a long way to go and some time to improve. The last run this afternoon was very important because we were able to gather a lot of information and now we will study this and use it to help us tomorrow.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI GETS WEEKEND OFF TO GOOD START WITH THIRD IN MOTEGI PRACTICE Valentino Rossi made a solid start to his Japanese Grand Prix weekend by riding his Fiat Yamaha M1 to third place on the opening day of action at Motegi. This weekend offers the Italian his first chance to wrap up the 2008 World Championship, which he can do by finishing third or higher on Sunday, even if Casey Stoner should win the race. Rain greeted the paddock on arrival this morning and first practice was run on a wet track, although Rossi was fast from the off and finished the session in second place. The weather dried up this afternoon, despite remaining overcast, and the track was dry for the second session. The different conditions gave rise to a few issues for the Italian however and he lacked some front grip through the longer, slower corners, but he was still consistently fast and finished third behind Stoner and Dani Pedrosa Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has never won at this track, was quick this morning in the wet but suffered some problems on the drier track this afternoon, finishing in 15th. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: 1’48.510 Laps: 46 “This morning it was quite wet and we were very fast from the start. We found a good setting and the Bridgestone wet tyre worked very well for me. This afternoon in the dry however we had a few more problems and Stoner and Pedrosa were both faster than me. At the moment we’re missing a bit of front grip. This track is always quite hard and it doesn’t suit our M1 perfectly; at the moment we have some issues in the slow corners and we’re suffering a bit. Anyway, we were still third so it’s not a big problem and I am sure we will be able to improve tomorrow. I hope the weather is better for the rest of the weekend!” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Today we’ve had a chance to test in both the wet and dry and this morning, in the wet, was very good and we were quite fast. This afternoon was not as good and it’s clear that we still have some work to do, but anyway we are still third, which isn’t so bad. The weather made things quite hard today but tomorrow, it seems, it will be dry all day and therefore we should be able to make the most of the time we have to maximise our setting for this track.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Yamaha: Tech 3 Yamaha battle mixed conditions in Japan Mixed weather conditions posed another tough challenge for the Tech 3 Yamaha team on the opening day of the Japanese GP today, with Colin Edwards and James Toseland finishing 13th and 14th respectively on combined times. This afternoon’s session started on a rapidly drying track after an earlier cloudburst, and Edwards quickly found his rhythm, moving to the top of the timesheets in the opening ten minutes. The American continued to reel off fast and consistent lap times and he was still in the top four at the halfway point in Yamaha’s all-important home race. He finished with a best time of 1.49.344, but in a frantic final few minutes he slipped out of the top ten to finish 13th. Toseland was one place further back with a best time of 1.49.424 as today’s intermittent rain showers posed another challenge for the British rider, who again had to contend with tricky conditions while trying to learn the Twin Ring Motegi circuit. By the end of the session, his lowly position didn’t reflect the significant progress the 27-year-old made throughout, as he was delighted with his day’s work. Toseland made a major breakthrough with the set-up of his Yamaha YZRM1 machine, with suspension adjustments dramatically improving his confidence with braking stability and corner entry rear grip. Today’s session was run under grey and gloomy skies, but weekend forecasts are for improved conditions, with tomorrow and Sunday expected to be dry. Colin Edwards 13th 1.49.344 41 laps “It hasn’t been a brilliant day. I went out there at the start and I was on top of the charts and thought it was all looking good. Even after about five or six laps when the times started to improve a lot I was hanging around second and third place. It felt good but as soon as some guys really got going I started dropping down the list pretty quick. I tried a couple of rear tyres and haven’t really found anything and that’s the problem. The best rear I’ve got at the moment doesn’t look like it will be good enough compared to the other guys. I did six laps at the end of the session in qualifying mode just to try and get a decent lap time in, but I couldn’t go any faster than a 49.3. I was running some of the best laps I’ve ever done at this place but I can’t get any feel from the rear. The front tyre is great but I’m spinning too much with the rear, and the burning question is how do we find more traction? We’ve made a couple of adjustments to the bike and it feels awesome. I’m not going to get the bike any better. I’m putting myself under a lot of pressure to perform, but when I go out and ride as hard and as good as I did today, to still be way down the standings is a bit frustrating. I’ll sit down with my guys and try and find a solution. I’ll never give up and I’m desperate to get a good result for Yamaha in Japan.” James Toseland 14th 1.49.424 44 laps “I was completely lost this morning and to be honest we’ve been a bit lost for quite a few races. I got a good result in Misano but that was only because I was able to do the same lap time on every single lap. So when everybody else wasn’t that consistent I ended up getting a sixth. But really I was no faster on Sunday than I was on Friday. It has been a really frustrating time but we just tried something radically different with the suspension and all of a sudden it has clicked again and it is a nice feeling. Ignoring the position I’m in because I stayed out on one of the softer tyres for nearly half race distance, I am really relieved to have found something with the bike. The change has really helped with braking stability and with the contact of the rear tyre on corner entry. The feeling on the brakes and going in and coming out of corners has not been great for the last few races and we have been chasing our tails trying to find a solution. We all sat down and talked how we weren’t really going in a direction that was good enough and the team has done a great job to get back on track. Today is the nearest I have been to the front in terms of time on a brand new track on the first day, and I’ve only had limited dry time again. I don’t mind learning a track in the rain because it makes it slower, so you can feel the bumps and see the lines. The only thing is I’m missing out on dry setup time and I’ve struggled with that all year because of how badly we’ve been hit by the rain.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER SETS THE EARLY PACE AT MOTEGI, GOOD START FOR MELANDRI Casey Stoner set the quickest lap on the opening day of free practice for the Grand Prix of Japan at Motegi today, where Marco Melandri made an encouraging start with the eighth fastest time. It was a good day for Ducati in general, with all four riders inside the top ten. The weather continued its persecution of the MotoGP paddock in 2008, with morning rain making for a damp track that dried out in the afternoon. Lap times, however, were still some way off record pace. Both Stoner and Melandri used the second session to find a good base setting for their machines and the pair are confident of further improvements tomorrow, providing weather forecasts predicting a dry day throughout are proved correct. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st: 1’48.121 “This morning we struggled to find rear grip on the wet track and we couldn’t understand why, so this afternoon it was a case of taking our time to get the setting right and eventually we found a decent feel. We have a few areas to improve on and one of the things we tried towards the end of this afternoon proved to be a blind alley, so that cost us some time. Basically we tried a new tyre but it was spinning up a lot on the rear and forcing me wide on the brakes. We need to make up for that tomorrow and a dry day would certainly help! My wrist is feeling pretty good here – much better than it has for the last two races anyway, only in the dry it is a little bit more difficult, in the wet no problems. I didn’t use any bandage I preferred not to because I have not the same movement. If I can I won’t use it.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 8th: 1’48.945 “This morning we had a lot of problems – we weren’t totally prepared with the electronics and I was running wide for the first four or five laps. However, in the afternoon things went much better. We still have a few things to work on but the weekend has started out positively and I think that trend can carry through to the race. Now we’ll see if we have another two sessions in the wet but at least it looks as though it will be dry for Sunday. If that’s the case we have an idea about tyre choice and even though we have some way to go with the bike I can say I’m happy today.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: HAYDEN FASTEST IN RAIN, SEVENTH OVERALL Japanese Grand Prix, Twin Ring Motegi First day of practice, Friday September 26 2008 Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden made a good start to his Japanese GP weekend at Motegi today. The American topped this morning’s wet opening session and placed seventh in the tightly packed dry afternoon outing, just three hundredths of a second off fourth place. Coming to Motegi from his superb second-place finish at hurricane-lashed Indy, Hayden rode brilliantly in the rain, using the latest Michelin rain tyres to end the session ahead of Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. Following the dry session Hayden plans to work on machine balance to improve performance around this stop-and-go racetrack. Nicky Hayden, 7th fastest, 1m 48.800s “This year, it wouldn’t be a GP weekend without a little bit of rain. Things felt awesome this morning. The bike set-up was quite similar to what we had at Indy, so the bike, the tyres, everything was working really good. I was quite fast, but it looks like the weather is going to clear up for the rest of the weekend. This afternoon things weren’t quite as great. The track looked a little patchy, so I just did one lap on intermediates when we went to slicks, the track came in quite quick. The bike felt okay in the dry but not great, though with just a few more tenths I would be quite a lot higher up the order. This track I sometimes struggle a bit in the dry. I’m close on all the splits but I’ve definitely got some work to do. I wasn’t completely happy with the set-up, the balance felt wrong, the way it was pitching back and forth into and out of the corners. I’ll try to give my guys some good information, so hopefully they can help me out and make it a bit easier tomorrow.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Nicky had a good first day, both morning and afternoon sessions. He is still feeling a little bit of pain from his broken right heel, but after his excellent result at Indy he is very motivated to score another good result here in Japan. The fastest riders are setting a very quick pace here, so Nicky’s target is to improve machine set-up so he can push harder over the next two days.” More, from another press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA JUST 0.073 SECONDS OFF ‘POLE’ Japanese Grand Prix, Twin Ring Motegi First day of practice, Friday September 26 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa rode a storming session at Motegi this afternoon, ending up second fastest, less than a tenth of a second of ‘provisional pole position’. The performance was impressive, considering that the Spaniard is still getting accustomed to his new technical package the pneumatic-valve RC212V and Bridgestone tyres which he raced for the first time in Indianapolis two weeks ago. This morning’s opening practice session was run on a wet racetrack, the circuit drying out in time for the afternoon outing. Conditions are forecast to stay dry for the remainder of the weekend, allowing Pedrosa and his crew to continue working to get the very best out of his new machine and tyres. Dani Pedrosa, 2nd fastest, 1m 48.194s “Track conditions were quite difficult this morning, so I struggled a bit. This afternoon everything improved. The track dried out, so we were able to start working towards the race, improving our machine set-up and especially trying the different tyres from our allocation. We found some good grip out there, but we need some more time to find the ideal combination for this track, because I am still finding the limit of the Bridgestone tyres. I am feeling better and better, and we want to keep working hard to get the best set-up because this is such an important race for us.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Dani and his team did a good job today. He was not so comfortable in the wet this morning but he made excellent progress in the dry, improving his machine settings and working on tyre choice. The target is always the race and I am sure that he will make more improvements tomorrow, so that he is in a very good position for Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: HOPKINS CONFIDENT OF IMPROVEMENTS AT MOTEGI Kawasaki’s John Hopkins concluded today’s free practice sessions at the Motegi circuit, which were held in mixed weather conditions, in confident mood after finishing in 12th position on his upgraded Ninja ZX-RR. Following this morning’s wet practice, Hopkins utilised the dry time this afternoon to evaluate different Bridgestone tyre options from his allocation to find a suitable race tyre for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. The 25-year-old Anglo-American made an initial evaluation of the upgraded Ninja ZX-RR engine that the team received yesterday, as well as adjusting his chassis set-up to suit the 4.8km circuit. Hopkins is confident that this new specification engine offers a smoother power delivery, although due to today’s low track temperatures and damp conditions, the Kawasaki Racing Team will continue to make an analysis during the race weekend. Hopkins continued to improve his lap time throughout the hour-long afternoon session and ended the day in 12th position after posting a best time of 1’49.197s on his final lap. The Kawasaki pilot is now hoping to make further refinements to his chassis setting, to improve manoeuvrability into the turns for tomorrow’s qualifying session. Despite improving his lap time throughout the day, Anthony West has suffered with handling problems aboard his Kawasaki race machine. The 27-year-old Australian finished this morning’s wet stint in ninth place, but in the later session West struggled with a lack of grip and corner stability, ending the day in 17th position. The Kawasaki racer will review the data with his crew overnight and is looking to make improvements to his chassis set-up in order to make more of an impact tomorrow around the Motegi track. John Hopkins #21 – 12th – 1’49.197 “There wasn’t much we could do this morning in the wet, especially as the rest of the weekend is predicted to be dry, so we just refined our wet weather set-up. This afternoon the track was still damp in places, but we went out on slick tyres and evaluated all of our different Bridgestone tyre options to find something suitable for the race. We also had a revised specification engine to use and although it’s not that different to what we had before, I can already feel that it’s quite a bit smoother. The main area we are concentrating on is making improvements to our chassis setting as I’m struggling at a few of the hairpin corners to get the bike to turn and exit comfortably. However, we set our fastest time right at the end of the session on a tyre that had already done a lot of laps, which is positive. We’ll make a few changes overnight and we’re not that far off the rest of the field, so I’m feeling confident that we can work our way up the time sheets in qualifying.” Anthony West #13 – 17th – 1’50.131 “Conditions at the circuit have been far from ideal today as this morning was wet, but it didn’t really dry out totally for the afternoon session. This inconsistency in weather is not making our job any easier, and we need to make some big improvements to move ourselves further up the standings. We’re struggling to get the machine into the turns, and we’re also suffering with a lack of rear traction on corner exit. It felt slippery out on track, and although we’ve made quite a lot of changes to the chassis set-up, we haven’t really found anything that’s made a big enough difference to improve our lap time significantly. We will continue to work overnight with the data we now have and hopefully we can make more of an impression tomorrow.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “This morning we ran through our wet set-up and made some comparisons to the last race at Indianapolis. Then in the later session, although it was still damp, we used a dry setting, as the track was slowly drying out. Both riders came across similar problems with the machine stability and balance on corner entry, which is the main area where we will focus on making improvements for tomorrow. John has used a new specification engine today and although initial results are positive, it’s difficult to really arrive at a conclusion as it wasn’t completely dry out on track in either of the practice sessions.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: He may be facing an uphill struggle in his quest to keep his World Championship hopes alive, but more could not have been asked of Casey Stoner on Friday in Motegi. The Ducati rider recorded the quickest time of the day in the combined Free Practice standings for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, with a 1´48.121 lap of the track at which he reached the pinnacle of MotoGP achievement in 2007. Stoner was seven-hundredths of a second faster than the only other rider with the chance to deny Valentino Rossi a sixth premier class title, Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard had experienced a difficult morning on a damp track as he adjusted his Motegi setup to Bridgestone tyres, but was on fine form during the afternoon run. Pedrosa´s pace and teammate Nicky Hayden´s morning times will be a positive boost for Honda, who have not had a home winner at Motegi since Makoto Tamada´s 2004 triumph. Title favourite Rossi was also on the pace on Friday, just under four-tenths of a second slower than Stoner´s quickest lap. The Fiat Yamaha rider had expressed interest in how Michelin-shod riders would fare on-track this weekend in the Thursday press conference, but he formed part of an all-Bridgestone top three on day one. The Fiat Yamaha rider made it three different factories in the top trio, with the news emerging that he will test the 2009 M1 on Monday perhaps with his sixth MotoGP World Championship already confirmed. Andrea Dovizioso was the highest placing satellite rider in fourth, and also the fastest man on Michelin rubber in the afternoon run. The Italian, who today announced he would replace Nicky Hayden in the factory Honda team in 2009, formed part of an extremely tightly packed group of riders separated by under a tenth of a second. That group included racewinner from the past three visits to Motegi Loris Capirossi, Alice Team´s Sylvain Guintoli and 2006 World Champion Hayden, the fastest rider on track in the first practice session. Marco Melandri took the second Ducati Desmosedici GP8 round in the eighth quickest time of the day, placing ahead of 2007 podium finishers Toni Elias and Randy de Puniet in the top ten. With the announcement of Dovizioso’s move to its Repsol Honda team, HRC also confirmed today that it would be supplying an RC212V to Team Scot next year, with the Italian’s place taken by 250cc race winner Yuki Takahashi. Meanwhile, this year’s partners of Team Scot, JIR, announced they would not have a Honda MotoGP machine for 2009. 250cc Alex Debon took provisional pole for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan on Friday afternoon, despite not having ridden at Twin Ring Motegi in over three years. The Lotus Aprilia rider came back from an early crash in the afternoon session to repeat his free practice form, clocking a 1´52.807 that allowed him the top spot on the 250cc grid´s first draft. The provisional front row was separated by under a tenth of a second, with World Championship leader Marco Simoncelli the closest to besting Debon´s marker. Hector Barbera and Hiroshi Aoyama, the winner of the 2005 & 2006 races at Motegi, completed the frontline onboard their respective Team Toth Aprilia and Red Bull KTM machinery. Winner of the last quarter-litre class round at Misano, Alvaro Bautista made his presence felt with a late lap of 1´53.125, enough to place him at the head of the second row before Saturday´s second qualifying session. The Spaniard bested JiR Team Scot´s home rider Yuki Takahashi, his Mapfre Aspar teammate Hector Faubel and Repsol KTM rider Julian Simon, who completes the second line. 125cc Joan Olive placed on provisional pole for the 125cc A-Style Grand Prix of Japan, heading a qualifying session that took place on a drying track. The Belson Derbi rider, who finished fifth at the soaking 2007 race at Twin Ring Motegi, is chasing his first pole position in the class, and a 2´02.296 time put him halfway towards his qualifying goal. Polaris World rider Bradley Smith also pencilled his name onto the front row, the only Aprilia rider to do so in the session as Derbi-armed competitors dominated the top five. The Briton was a tenth of a second down on Olive´s time, with series leader Mike di Meglio and his Ajo Motorsport teammate Dominique Aegerter completing the frontline after the opening session. Indianapolis poleman and raceday runner-up Pol Espargaro missed out on a provisional front row spot by just 0.029, and leads row two alongside the man who beat him to victory stateside, Nico Terol. Recuperating World Champion Gabor Talmacsi came back from a morning crash to join the trio, with Sandro Cortese completing the second line. Whilst World Championship leader Di Meglio was able to place in the top four, main challenger Simone Corsi was only capable of 21st on the provisional grid. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Loris Capirossi was on the pace at Motegi in Japan during today’s free practice sessions as he clocked the fifth fastest time. Capirossi (1’48.779, 42 laps) has won the last three Motegi Grands Prix and as this afternoon’s session wore on he started to discover the form around the 4,801m Japanese circuit that has given him so much success. He worked hard with his crew and made a plethora of changes to his Suzuki GSV-R during both this morning’s wet session and the hour in the afternoon on a drying track. Capirossi is confident of more improvements as he goes in search of that fourth win in succession at Motegi. Chris Vermeulen (1’49.664, 42 laps) recorded the 16th fastest time as he looked to obtain the optimum set-up for his machine to allow him the find the grip through Motegi’s complex layout that he was searching for. He recorded his best time on his final lap of the day as the changes that he and his crew made started to come to fruition and leave him with a clear direction for tomorrow. Rizla Suzuki’s regular riders were joined this weekend by Test Team Rider Kousuke Akiyoshi, making his first appearance of the season. Akiyoshi (P19, 1’50.879, 36 laps) will provide valuable race data during this weekend for the Factory to assist in the development of the 2009 GSV-R, as Suzuki looks forward to next year. This morning’s session was held in persistent rain which fortunately eased up in time for the track to dry out in the afternoon – despite very grey and overcast skies. Today’s fastest time was set by Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone equipped Ducati. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will have another practice session tomorrow morning with all three riders taking part in the afternoon’s qualifying session to secure the best possible grid positions for Sunday’s 24-lap race that gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT). Loris Capirossi: “It has not been too bad at the end of the day because we did struggle a bit this morning in the rain to begin with, but at the end of the session we found a good solution that we were happy with. This afternoon we had the first opportunity to ride with slick tyres and even though the condition of the track is not 100% we managed to get in a whole hour in the dry and we tried many things on the bike. We made small steps every time we went out and although we are not so far from the front on positions we are quite far away on time, so we must keep working hard and try 100% to go better here. This is an important race for me because it is a special race for Suzuki and I love the track and have won the last three times here. I think maybe it will be difficult to win here again – but why not?” Chris Vermeulen: “In the wet this morning we struggled quite a lot to get rear grip with the bike and the guys worked really hard between the sessions to improve things, but by this afternoon it had dried out enough to use slick tyres and we had a similar problem with the bike in the fact that the set-up wasn’t exactly right. We’ve got some ideas and some important data from today so I am sure that we can come back much stronger tomorrow and be pushing a lot further forward.” Kousuke Akiyoshi: “I have had a few problems with the bike today and I had a crash as well which didn’t help with getting the bike set-up right. We can’t quite get the grip from the bike that we want and we still have a lot of things to sort out with engine braking and mapping as it is very inconsistent, but I know the crew will sort it out for tomorrow and we will make big steps!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Loris had a horrible weekend at Indianapolis and we had some long discussions yesterday to make sure that we lifted ourselves back to where things should be – it’s great to see him back in attacking style today and putting the GSV-R up amongst the fastest riders. There are still a large number of setting improvements we need to make, but the starting point from today is not too bad at all. “In the only dry session we had today Chris wasn’t able to find the right solutions to let him push to the maximum, but nonetheless he improved dramatically towards the end of the session and he and Tom know exactly where the improvements can be made, so we fully expect Chris to be pushing Loris hard and up with the fastest riders tomorrow. “It is good to see Akiyoshi san out there. As he showed here last year his level is very high but it just didn’t quite click for him today. I am sure that he will work with his crew overnight to assess the data they have collected today and come out on the attack tomorrow!” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner heads Bridgestone trio in Motegi practice Round 15: Japan Free Practice Twin Ring Motegi, Friday 26 September 2008 Ducati’s Casey Stoner topped the opening day of free practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, heading a trio of Bridgestone-shod riders with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa in second and Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi in third place. It was something of an inconclusive opening day for Bridgestone at their home grand prix after mixed weather at the Motegi Twin Ring circuit today. This morning’s opening free practice session was held on a wet-damp track while this afternoon’s session led to drier conditions and the opportunity for slick tyres to be used. In spite of the changeable conditions, four additional Bridgestone riders achieved top ten results today. Three-time Motegi maestro Loris Capirossi set the fifth fastest time of the day for Rizla Suzuki just ahead of Alice Team’s Sylvain Guintoli in sixth position. All four Ducati machines were represented in the top half of the timesheets with Marco Melandri in eighth place and Toni Elias in ninth for the Ducati and Alice teams respectively. Rossi and Stoner were equally competitive in the morning’s wet/damp conditions, but lost out on the top spot to Repsol Honda man Nicky Hayden. The difficult nature of the circuit due to the weather prevented Bridgestone from conducting a decisive analysis of either wet or slick tyres and the tyre manufacturer hopes for a more stable day of weather tomorrow. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Would you say that was an encouraging start for Bridgestone’s home grand prix preparations? “I would say that it has been quite a difficult day to draw any concrete conclusions because of the inconsistency of the track conditions in both sessions. This morning started off wet and was slowly drying in places, while the afternoon hour was held on a largely dry track, which continued to dry out during the session. We could get some understanding of the performance of our standard wet tyres in damp conditions in the morning, but the track was not consistent enough to gauge the full level or potential.” Could Bridgestone assess slick tyre performance at all in the afternoon? “The majority of riders started the afternoon session using slick tyres and steadily picked up pace as the track improved. The rain did not leave the track in such a good condition so it was difficult to carry out our usual tyre evaluation programme. Riders used soft and medium specification slicks and there were nevertheless some pleasing performances from Casey, Dani and Valentino to take the top three positions, starting our home grand prix in a very satisfactory way. Loris and Sylvain also made the top six with some strong runs, so it was good to see five Bridgestone riders in the top six. We hope for more consistent and improved track conditions tomorrow so that we can get a fully representative picture of our tyre performance for the rest of the weekend.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results Pos. Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 2m00.589s (P3) 1m48.121s (P1) Fastest P2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2m04.078s (P18) 1m48.194s (P2) +0.073s P3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m59.892s (P2) 1m48.510s (P3) +0.389s P5 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m03.235s (P16) 1m48.779s (P5) +0.658s P6 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 2m00.859s (P5) 1m48.794s (P6) +0.673s P8 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 2m02.451s (P14) 1m48.945s (P8) +0.824s P9 Toni Elias Alice Team 2m01.370s (P7) 1m48.974s (P9) +0.853s P11 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m00.996s (P6) 1m49.190s (P11) +1.069s P12 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 2m02.225s (P12) 1m49.197s (P12) +1.076s P16 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m01.628s (P10) 1m49.664s (P16) +1.543s P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 2m01.455s (P8) 1m50.131s (P17) +2.010s P18 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m01.683s (P11) 1m50.158s (P18) +2.037s P19 Kousuke Akiyoshi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m02.688s (P15) 1m50.879s (P19) +2.758s Weather: Session 1 / Wet Air 21°C, Track 24°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso in 4th position after first day of practice at Motegi The weekend of the Grand Prix of Japan, began in the best way for Andrea Dovizioso who, with despite uncertain grip on the track ended the first day of free practice in fourth position. The morning session was held with the track wet, and JiR Team Scot were able to assess options for rain tyres for the race, should the weather on Sunday be wet. In the afternoon session with dry weather tyres, but on a damp track Andrea Dovizioso improved his performance. The weather forecast for tomorrow is uncertain as is the forecast for tomorrow’s qualifying session. Cirano Mularoni – Team Manager JiR Team Scot “The first day of free practice, given the weather conditions, was successfully completed, with an excellent performance by Andrea and good work by the Team. In tests tomorrow we will try to keep in the top positions, regardless whether the track is dry or wet. It is also important to be able to draw valuable information from testing tyres for possible rain conditions.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V 4th-best time: 1’48 “770 “Today we started well and did a good job, despite the weather which was uncertain and the conditions of the track which were not optimal. This morning was wet and we tried different grooved tyres, while in the afternoon I used dry-weather rubber, even though the track still had wet spots on it. The second session we dedicated to try a new set of forks, which felt positive and we will continue to work on them tomorrow. In such uncertain conditions, I could do a long run of a dozen laps, and my hand is good, but we lose a little on acceleration out of the slow corners compared to other motorcycles. Tomorrow we will have to see how the weather situation is as it remains uncertain.” Gianni Berti – Technical Coordinator jîr Team Scot “This morning with the wet we made a series of tests with possible solutions for tyres with our partner Michelin and we were able to acquire important information that could prove useful if the race is held in the rain. We then started working on a new front fork and tomorrow we will continue to work through the planned schedule. We are in a position to improve but also this depends on how the weather will evolve.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: HOT AND HUMID WEATHER AT MOTEGI OPENING DAY OF PRACTICES Motegi, 26 September: Hot, rain and high humidity made for energy-sapping conditions in today’s free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at the Motegi Circuit which will be celebrating its 10th anniversary of GP racing this week end. LCR Honda racer Randy de Puniet completed the two sessions in 10th overall despite the small fracture of the right wrist. After this morning first free session in the wet, the Frenchman aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V, completed 25 laps in the afternoon session on dry surface clocking his fastest lap time of 1’49.149. Randy and the LCR squad worked to fine tune the base set-up testing some rear tyres in the last part of the afternoon session and the 27-year-old could ride as he would like despite the ache of the right wrist. De Puniet 10th: “Obviously it was a difficult day for everybody as we had only one session in the dry. In the beginning of the afternoon session there were some water patches on the track and we took some time to “feel” the surface. After that we found a good base set-up but we still have to adjust the chassis and the engine mapping for tomorrow. We had two long runs in the last part of the afternoon session and the rear tyres worked well. I feel confident for tomorrow’s qualifying session even if my wrist is not at 100%. Anyway I understood my limit today and with some pain killers I can easily ride as I would like”.