FIM MotoGP World Championship Phillip Island, Australia October 3, 2008 Free Practice Two Results (wet conditions): 1. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:38.820 2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:39.575 3. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:39.824 4. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:40.585 5. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:40.804 6. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:40.892 7. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:40.948 8. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:41.638 9. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:41.788 10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:41.834 11. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:42.408 12. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:42.905 13. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:43.006 14. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:43.221 15. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:43.248 16. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:43.937 17. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:44.084 18. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:44.509 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI CONFIDENT OF IMPROVEMENT AT PHILLIP ISLAND Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West remain confident of a strong performance during tomorrow’s final practice and qualifying sessions ahead of Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, despite enduring a difficult opening day aboard their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines at Phillip Island. The curse of Phillip Island’s unpredictable weather stuck once again, with today’s two free practice sessions held in completely different weather conditions. Both Kawasaki riders struggled with rear traction issues during this morning’s hour-long free practice session, which was held in warm and sunny conditions. Hopkins and West made a number of changes to their Ninja ZX-RR machines to try and improve drive out of Phillip Island’s fast and sweeping curves, and despite running out of time before making significant improvements to their lap times, both are confident that they have a clear direction with their dry set-up. Lack of rear traction was also an issue for the two Kawasaki pilots during the wet second session, with Hopkins in particular struggling to get his rear tyre up to working temperature around the 4.448km Phillip Island circuit. Despite the problems, the 25-year-old Kawasaki rider posted the 14th fastest time of the session, but was disappointed to finish more than four seconds off the fastest time of the afternoon, set by former World Champion, Nicky Hayden. Struggling with the same lack of rear grip as his teammate, West also had to contend with instability under braking for the two slowest corners on the circuit, MG Corner and the turn four hairpin. 12th fastest in the rain, the 27-year-old Australian was frustrated not to be able to take advantage of his wet weather ability to finish further up the timesheet. However, he remains confident that, whatever the weather brings tomorrow, today’s sessions have provided a clear indication of the set-up changes needed for any conditions. John Hopkins #21 – 16th – 1’31.814 “Phillip Island requires something of a compromise with the set-up of the bike, as it needs to be easy to turn at high-speed, but then it also has to be stable through the sweeping turns where you’re on the edge of the tyre for a long time. Today we got it a bit wrong and it was difficult to find traction exiting the turns this morning. We made some improvements during the session, but the rain in the afternoon meant we weren’t able to progress any further. Although we also had some problems with rear grip in the wet this afternoon, I’m happy that we know exactly what we need to change for tomorrow, regardless of whether it turns out wet or dry.” Anthony West #13 – 17th – 1’32.211 “We had the same problems we’ve had all season this morning, where the bike just wants to spin up as soon as you touch the throttle exiting the corner. It was frustrating, because I was losing so much time just on acceleration out of the turn, especially exiting the left-hander onto the main straight, where it’s so important to carry as much speed as possible. This afternoon we had similar problems, but I was also struggling with the stability under braking, as the bike felt like it wanted to run on at the slower corners. It’s frustrating, because normally I can count on being much further up the timesheet when it’s wet, but it just wasn’t possible today because of the issues with the bike. Having said that, with the two different sessions today, we’re pretty fixed on how to improve the bike for tomorrow, whatever the weather might throw at us.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Both riders have had similar issues with rear traction in the wet and the dry today, so we have a clear issue to address overnight. We need to look at the dry set-up to reduce the tendency of the rear tyre to spin up under acceleration. For the wet we need to make changes to both suspension and chassis settings so that John and Anthony can push the rear tyre hard enough to get it up to working temperature. Anthony also had some issues with the engine braking today, and this is something else we’ll look at tonight. The track temperature is much lower than it was when we tested here at the beginning of the season, and that caught us out today.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: NEW WORLD CHAMPION GETS BACK TO WORK ON THE ISLAND Newly-crowned 2008 World Champion Valentino Rossi was back in action at Phillip Island today, just five days after clinching an incredible sixth premier class title, his eighth in all. The Fiat Yamaha Team rider finished a promising second in this morning’s dry session, before rain interrupted the proceedings this afternoon. The Italian maestro has a peerless record at Phillip Island having won five times in the premier class, including twice with Yamaha during his championship winning years of 2004 and 2005, and he is keen to get back onto the top step of the podium this weekend. Bright sunshine this morning saw him in fine form, running second behind Casey Stoner, but this afternoon was a different story as rain and wind battered the coastal circuit. Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon and, with unsettled weather expected for the rest of the weekend, this afternoon’s wet set-up time could prove useful. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has won the 250cc race for the last two years here, was eighth in the dry this morning and fifth in the wet this afternoon. Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’30.764 Laps: 49 “Today we are back to work after the championship victory but I can say that my motivation is still very high and I really want to have a good result here. I am quite happy with this morning’s session, second is not so bad and I managed to do some good laps and find a strong rhythm quite quickly. It wasn’t perfect however and we need to work a little bit on the tyres with Bridgestone. This track is very hard on tyres, especially the left side where there is a lot of stress and at the moment we have a bit too much rear spin. In the wet we were a bit slow and we lack some feel on the entry to the corner, so if it is wet again then we will need to work on this. Now we will have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow in order to see what we have to focus on.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Yet again we’ve had another half wet, half dry day! It’s a pity this morning’s great weather couldn’t continue but anyway it seems we might be okay for the rest of the weekend. This morning we were reasonably fast, although we have some improvements to make, but this afternoon in the wet things weren’t quite as good. We still need to choose the best tyres for both conditions so that we’re prepared for rain or shine! Anyway, it’s only Friday so we will keep working like this tomorrow and hopefully make another step forward.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO MAKES MOTOGP DEBUT ON RAIN-HIT ISLAND Jorge Lorenzo made his MotoGP debut at Phillip Island today, looking to make an impression after taking 250cc honours at the track for the last two years. It was a day of two halves, which saw the leading rookie eighth in the dry this morning before climbing to fifth this afternoon as the sunshine gave way to heavy rain. Lorenzo spent the morning working through his allocation of Michelin race tyres, an important factor at a circuit which is especially hard on the left side of the tyre. This afternoon the Spaniard continued his recent trend of being fast in the wet and he is confident that, with a little more work, he can be a contender whatever the conditions this weekend. His team-mate Valentino Rossi, fresh from his world championship victory in Motegi last weekend, was second fastest in the dry this morning and fifth in the wet this afternoon. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 8th Time: 1’31.235 Laps: 52 “Today has been a bit strange because the conditions between the morning and the afternoon were so different! This is one of my favourite tracks and I’ve been looking forward to riding the M1 here for a long time and finding out if I could be fast again here like I was in 125 and 250. This morning in the dry we tried many different tyres with Michelin and then this afternoon in the wet again we had the chance to try some different things. It seems that Michelin is especially strong here in the wet and if it’s like this all weekend then we have the possibility to be quite strong. We need a bit more time to be fast in the dry here but, from looking at the times and the data, I think we can be competitive if the weather is good as well.” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We’ve had two very different practice sessions today as far as conditions are concerned! We used this morning’s dry session to explore all the Michelin tyre options we had available, which was very important. We have a good range although we need to work a little bit more to keep the front wheel on the ground. In the afternoon in the wet things were actually a little easier for Jorge, but he needs a little bit more confidence on the entry to the corners and also we need to improve the rear contact. Of course we would prefer it to be dry tomorrow, but we will have to wait and see and it looks like it could be changeable so today’s work could be very important.” More, from a press release issued by Tech 3 Yamaha: Toseland and Edwards working hard in wet and dry James Toseland and Colin Edwards once again found themselves battling the elements on an opening day of free practice in Phillip Island dominated by changeable weather conditions. Toseland made a strong start in a morning session run in bright and sunny conditions as the British rider lapped at a consistently fast pace to post the 10th quickest time. Toseland, who will celebrate his 28th birthday on Sunday, was only 0.2s off a top three position as he quickly improved a set-up he developed during a successful three-day test session on his Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 back in February. This afternoon’s second session though was run in wet and blustery conditions, much more typical of the unpredictable weather that has become a regular feature at the Australian GP. Toseland gradually built up his confidence in the difficult conditions and despite finishing 18th, he is confident of making big improvements should the wet weather return. Colin Edwards had a promising opening day in preparation for his 100th MotoGP appearance in Phillip Island. The American, who made his premier class debut in 2003, was 12th fastest this morning, just over a tenth off Toseland’s impressive pace. He was 10th in the rain and remains confident that in wet or dry conditions he is capable of mounting a top six challenge to mark his 100th race milestone. Forecasts for the remainder of the weekend predict mainly dry conditions, with a small chance of light showers on Sunday. James Toseland 10th 1.31.277 44 laps “It was really good this morning and I was really happy. We’d found a good direction and the bike was working pretty well. I was only a tenth off third place and I used the same rear tyre for the whole session. We made a change halfway through with the rear shock to get a bit more grip on the exit of corners and it was working well and I could run consistent times. If I’d have had that set-up when the tyre was a bit better then I would have been in the top three and that would have been really encouraging. But in the rain we didn’t find anything that improved my feeling. We made plenty of changes but we couldn’t get a good direction to solve the problems. I just couldn’t get out of the corners and we couldn’t cure it. The rear was spinning up as soon as I touched the throttle, so we haven’t got the balance of the rear right. At least it is looking dry on the forecasts for tomorrow so we can build on what we found this morning. But for the wet we need to find a new setting. I know the problem we are having but unfortunately we are not curing it. We are all working hard but we’ll have a sit down and have a re-think because it is nothing like the feeling I have in the dry. There’s not as much grip in the wet but the bike should be feeling pretty similar in terms of balance and it doesn’t.” Colin Edwards 12th 1.31.368 – 52 laps “It was a bit of a strange day because really in both sessions we ran out of time just when we were heading in a direction to make some steps forward. We didn’t set the world on fire this morning but I was reasonably happy. In the dry I did a decent lap at the end on a rear tyre that definitely isn’t going to be my race tyre, so that’s positive knowing we could have made it a lot better. In the rain my comfort level wasn’t really high so we can make some improvements. Something is just lacking in the package although we did some decent laps, and if it rains again we got a few ideas to improve the feeling. Michelin had one tyre that is probably one of the hardest we have got, and although this track is notorious for wearing the left side of the tyre, I don’t have much feel on the right. Even though there’s only really two right-hand corners, it is just hurting my lap time a little bit. I just can’t be as smooth as I am normally in the rain. At the end we made a change to the chassis that made the front a lot better, but I’d like to find a bit more of a comfortable feeling with the rear. I feel like I was always chasing the front of the bike to correct the rear sliding around, but I’m pretty confident for whatever the weather throws at us.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER SETS THE ISLAND PACE ON A DAY OF AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONS Casey Stoner completed an impressive first day of free practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island today, setting the quickest lap time over the two free practice sessions, one of which took place in the dry and one in the wet, either side of a special World Champions’ presentation at lunchtime. Stoner was given his replica version of the premier-class trophy introduced last year by Dorna’s CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and FIM representative Claude Danis in recognition of his World Championship success in 2007. Alongside him Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner and Freddie Sheene – son of the legendary Englishman Barry – were retrospectively handed their editions of the impressive sculpture. Marco Melandri struggled to find a suitable set-up for the dry conditions this morning and wasn’t helped by the dramatic change in weather in the afternoon. The Italian is hoping the positive forecasts for tomorrow are proved accurate. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1st: 1’30.094 “Everything went really well in the dry this morning and we quickly found a good set-up and feeling with the bike that allowed me to push quite hard straight away. We’ve still got some areas we can improve on but in the dry we’re more or less ready to race. We had a few more problems in the wet and have a few issues with the rear to sort out. So far we haven’t found good traction and the changes we made to the bike didn’t have the desired effect. I’m only half satisfied with today so if it’s wet tomorrow we’ll need to work really hard on finding a solution. It was a real honour to receive the trophy today as a World Champion – especially alongside Mick and Wayne. I was too young to watch Wayne race but I have seen the videos and I grew up watching Mick. They both inspired a never-say-die attitude in me that has been crucial in my career. There were times in the not-too-distant past when I thought that being World Champion was an impossible dream but that attitude helped to make it possible. That and a great team, great bike and great tyres! It was also nice to see Freddie because I think Barry Sheene was an inspiration to racers all over the world – not just in England and Australia – and everybody here at Phillip Island remembers him fondly.” MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 15th: 1’31.803 “It hasn’t been a good first day and, as we’ve seen so many times this year, the change in conditions from one session to the next certainly hasn’t helped. The problems are still the same – I can’t get any feeling for the tyres and I can’t ride the bike like I want. Hopefully the conditions are more stable tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Casey Stoner left his rivals thunderstruck on Friday in Phillip Island, making the most of the morning dry practice session for the Australian Grand Prix to record the fastest time of the day. The Ducati rider started strongly at his home track, with a 1´30.094 quickest lap nearly seven-tenths of a second quicker than MotoGP world title successor Valentino Rossi in the opening run. Stoner came close to breaching the circuit record, set by teammate Marco Melandri in 2005, despite riding without protective strapping on his injured scaphoid in order to increase mobility. The home rider and 2007 racewinner picked up from where he left off on Friday, showing that he is not going to ease off the throttle despite his concession of the World Championship to Rossi at the last round. Rain in the second session allowed the riders to work on their wet setup, with mixed forecasts for the weekend suggesting that both settings will be required over the course of the weekend. Repsol Honda´s Nicky Hayden was fastest in that outing, with Stoner and Rossi down in fifth and sixth, respectively. A further second back in the dry, Alex de Angelis came off his San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V in the second session in a light off, and was a little way off the pace in the rain. Somewhat more consistent, whatever the weather, was JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso, fourth fastest in the dry and second quickest in the wet afternoon session. Randy de Puniet also suffered an afternoon fall after clocking the fifth fastest time of the morning, ahead of Dani Pedrosa, Shinya Nakano, Jorge Lorenzo, Loris Capirossi and James Toseland. Twice poleman at Phillip Island, Hayden was surprisingly on much better form in the wet, only able to place eleventh in the morning´s dry run. Having taken time out from his schedule to release penguins into the wild earlier in the week, Rizla Suzuki´s Chris Vermeulen another close encounter of the ornithic kind in afternoon session, having to duck behind his visor to narrowly avoid a low-flying bird. The home rider placed fourteenth overall. 250cc Alvaro Bautista put one hand on a sixth 250cc pole position of the season with a 1´43.839 lap of a wet Phillip Island circuit, taking him to the provisional top spot for the Australian Grand Prix. The Spaniard was the dominant force in the soaking first qualifying session, session, the only rider to go round in under 1´44. Four-tenths of a second slower than his fellow countryman, Julian Simon continued his upturn in practice fortune with the second quickest lap of the run, with Lukas Pesek and series leader Marco Simoncelli completing the provisional front row. Campetella Racing´s Fabrizio Lai had been sitting pretty at the top of the timing screen for a large portion of the session, but then suffered a huge hit into the protective barrier after keeping his bike up for the run-off on a left hander. Saving himself from a similar fate was fifth placing Mika Kallio, who took evasive action on first a highside, then a collision with the tyre wall, followed by another attempt by his KTM machine to spit him off. All this happened in one incident, provoking some nervous moments in the Red Bull KTM garage. Soon-to-be MotoGP rider Yuki Takahashi joins Lai and Kallio on the temporary second row, with Alex Debon completing the line. Lotus Aprilia rider Debon highsided and took an awkward landing during the session, a fate shared by Kallio´s teammate Hiroshi Aoyama. 125cc One week on from the first pole of his World Championship career, Mike di Meglio took the provisional top spot for the Australian Grand Prix on a wet Phillip Island track. The Frenchman, renowned for his wet weather abilities, clocked a fastest time of 1´48.319 on his final lap of the day, reducing an already provisional pole-worthy marker by three-tenths of a second. Di Meglio´s time was seven-tenths of a second quicker than anything that his rivals could muster up, with DeGraaf Grand Prix´s Danny Webb his nearest rival. The provisional front row is separated by nearly two seconds, and features I.C. Team´s Michael Ranseder and Motegi racewinner Stefan Bradl. A late crash stopped Esteve Rabat improving upon his fifth-place-earning marker, with the Repsol KTM rider taking a nasty fall. Also bailing out was ISPA KTM Aran´s Lorenzo Zanetti, sixth in the session. The tentative front row also includes Stevie Bonsey and Nico Terol. Title challengers Simone Corsi and Gabor Talmacsi placed thirteenth and seventeenth, respectively, whilst there were further falls for Marc Marquez, Sergio Gadea, Scott Redding, Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaro and home wildcards Jake Horne & Blake Leigh-Smith. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: HAYDEN TOPS RAIN-LASHED PRACTICE Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island First day of practice, Friday October 3 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V rider Nicky Hayden dominated this afternoon’s soaking-wet second practice session at Phillip Island, lapping the high-speed seaside track three quarters of a second faster than his closest rival. The American has been using his Michelin rain tyres to stunning effect recently, topping last weekend’s rain-hit opening session at Motegi and finishing second in the hurricane-hit Indianapolis GP two weeks earlier. The 2008 MotoGP season is proving to be the wettest in memory, with rain falling at the vast majority of events so far. In this morning’s opening session, run in dry conditions, Hayden was 11th quickest, working hard to find more traction around this high-speed track. Nicky Hayden. FP1 (dry): 11th fastest, 1m 31.284s. FP2 (wet): fastest, 1m 38.820s “This morning it wasn’t great to be in eleventh, but this afternoon it was nice to be fastest in the wet and consistently really quick at the end, things were feeling really good. My best rain lap time was only seven seconds slower than my best this morning, and it was real wet, so that’s down to some good Michelin rain tyres. But honestly I could have done with some more dry track time to sort out some problems we had this morning. I was struggling with traction, and without traction here you’re not going anywhere. We have got some things to try with the bike set-up, which we couldn’t try so much in the wet, but hopefully we can use tomorrow. I need to be going faster in the dry, we’ve definitely got some work to do, so we’ll keep pushing and see what the weather does tomorrow. I love this track, I love racing at speed, it’s a great thrill, I just need to find some edge grip. If we can find that I can be fast in the dry too.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Nicky and his team did a good job today. They started working on settings this morning in the dry. The bike set-up and Michelin rain tyres worked well in the rain this afternoon, so Nicky could finish with the fastest time. Of course, our target is to be in the best possible shape for the race, so tomorrow we will continue working on the bike, hopefully with some good weather.” More, from another press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA SIXTH FASTEST ON THE ISLAND Australian Grand Prix, Phillip Island First day of practice, Friday October 3 2008 Wherever MotoGP goes this year, the rain usually follows, and Australia is proving to be no exception. Changeable springtime weather dominated proceedings at Phillip Island today, Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa ending the first two practice sessions sixth overall. This morning’s opening session was run in bright, sunny conditions, while strong winds and heavy rain affected this afternoon’s outing. Pedrosa made a steady start to his Australian GP weekend, placing sixth this morning and eighth this afternoon. Like the rest of the MotoGP grid, the Spaniard is hoping for better weather tomorrow, to allow him to continue fine-tuning the balance of his RC212V for Sunday’s race. Pedrosa is currently third in the 2008 World Championship with three races remaining. Dani Pedrosa. FP1 (dry): 6th fastest, 1m 31.161s. FP2 (wet): 8th fastest, 1m 41.638s “I am feeling quite confident so far because we’ve had a useful first day of practice and the bike seems to be working fine. Of course, we do need to keep working hard and improve our race pace, especially in the dry, because [Casey] Stoner was really fast in the dry this morning. In particular we need to work on the balance of the bike, which is very important here. This afternoon in the wet, I started out quite cautiously, then started to push a bit harder towards the end of the session. My times improved lap by lap and I needed two or three more laps to finish in a better position. Anyway to be the first day, I’m quite happy. I hope that the weather is kind to us tomorrow, so that we can continue working in machine set-up on a dry racetrack.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “The weather conditions have been so changeable here today on the Island, so Dani and everyone got the chance to ride in both dry and wet conditions. Dani’s start to the weekend hasn’t been so bad. Now we need to work some more to improve his machine set-up and increase his race pace in the dry.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Aussies lead the Bridgestone charge in wet and dry Round 16: Australia Free Practice Phillip Island Circuit, Friday 3 October 2008 Australian riders Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen were the top performing Bridgestone-shod riders in the opening two practice sessions for Sunday’s Australian GP after a mixed day of weather conditions at Phillip Island. Stoner led the way in this morning’s dry and sunny session with a massive 0.670s advantage over his nearest challenger Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Rossi, who clinched the 2008 MotoGP crown with a win at Motegi last Sunday, was in turn three-tenths clear of San Carlo Honda Gresini man Alex De Angelis who completed an all-Bridgestone top three in the dry conditions. As clouds gathered over the island, rain made yet another unwelcome visit to a MotoGP weekend this season in time for the afternoon practice session, which saw Chris Vermeulen take top Bridgestone rider honours in third position for Suzuki behind wet pace-setter Nicky Hayden and second-placed Andrea Dovizioso. It was very much a day of two halves but with six riders in the top ten in both sessions, Bridgestone’s Australian GP preparations have started solidly. The Phillip Island track is renowned for its technical complexity with the dominance of fast left-hand corners placing a firm emphasis on performance and durability on that side of the tyre. Bridgestone hopes for improved track conditions for tomorrow’s practice and qualifying session as it works to extract a performance level from its tyres similar to that seen in last year’s Australian event in which Ducati riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi took a 1-2 finish. Tyre Talk with Shinji Aoki – Bridgestone Motorsport Assistant Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development What did Bridgestone look at in this morning’s dry session? “In this morning’s dry session we got immediately to work looking at several different compounds for this track, and we could quickly find a good direction. This circuit is probably the most severe in the world for the left-hand side of the tyre, so we must carry out some longer runs tomorrow to assess the durability. Today, the wear appearance from the tyres was as expected but the heating process in the tyre is different on non-consecutive runs. When the rider pits in, the tyre naturally starts to cool down, but when completing consecutive laps the heat is prolonged over a greater period of time and affects the tyre much more. This is our main focus and challenge for this track, which is why an analysis over longer runs will be so important.” Are there any concerns over wet weather tyre pace? “The track’s characteristics affect wet tyres in exactly the same way as the slicks on the left-hand side of the tyre. This afternoon, our wet weather tyres generally need a few laps to reach the optimum temperature, but then showed a good level of consistency. We could of course try to find a better lap time by using softer specification wets, but we must consider the durability over the complete race distance. As typical for this season, the rain is following us wherever we go, but hopefully this will make way for better weather tomorrow and Sunday.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results Pos. Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m30.094s (P1) 1m40.585s (P4) Fastest P2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m30.764s (P2) 1m40.892s (P6) +0.670s P3 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m31.043s (P3) 1m42.408s (P11) +0.949s P6 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m31.161s (P6) 1m41.638s (P8) +1.067s P7 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m31.221s (P7) 1m43.248s (P15) +1.127s P9 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m31.248s (P9) 1m43.937s (P16) +1.154s P13 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 1m31.532s (P13) 1m40.948s (P7) +1.438s P14 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m31.719s (P14) 1m39.824s (P3) +1.625s P15 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m31.803s (P15) 1m44.509s (P18) +1.709s P16 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m31.814s (P16) 1m43.221s (P14) +1.720s P17 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 1m32.211s (P17) 1m42.905s (P12) +2.117s P18 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m32.415s (P18) 1m41.788s (P9) +2.321s Weather: Session 1 / Dry Air 21°C, Track 27°C (Bridgestone measurement) Session 2 / Wet Air 14°C, Track 14°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Australian racer Chris Vermeulen got his home Grand Prix off to a good start as he recorded the third fastest time during this afternoon’s wet session Vermeulen moved into the top-three with a third of the session left and continued to lap consistently fast in the torrential conditions. He was very pleased with the improvements that have been made to the GSV-R since the Team last tested at Phillip Island, and is convinced that the base settings from today will put him in a good position for the rest of the weekend. Loris Capirossi looked good in this morning’s opening session held in pleasant spring conditions. His quickest time of 1’31.248 from his 28 laps gave him ninth place overall, but he was only two-tenths away from a top-three position. Vermeulen was 14th in the dry as he used the session to get the set-up right for his machine over the 4,448m circuit. Phillip Island is certainly a venue of differing weather characteristics and it has been said that if you don’t like the weather you only need to wait ten minutes and it will change, and today was no exception. This morning’s practice was held in warm sunny conditions with clear blue skies and track temperatures reaching 30ºC, but in marked contrast this afternoon was overcast with heavy rain and the track only reached a chilly 15ºC. The fastest combined time was set by Casey Stoner during this morning’s session. Rizla Suzuki has one more free practice session tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 27-lap race will be at the later time of 16.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT) when both riders and fans alike will be hoping for fine weather at this fantastic racetrack. Chris Vermeulen: “It’s been a positive first day at Phillip Island and a lot better than we have had in the last few years. The whole team and factory have worked really hard since the test here early in the year and like everybody knows we’ve had a new chassis in the lead up to this Grand Prix and this has all definitely helped the bike in all conditions. This morning we didn’t do our best lap-time but we stuck with one set of tyres which were not the stickiest we had in our allocation and worked on getting the best set-up we could. In the rain this afternoon we worked on pretty much the same thing and I think we have a very good base set-up that will also help us to improve tomorrow!” Loris Capirossi: “This morning was not too bad for us, we made a few changes and we looked to be moving on with the set-up of the bike for those conditions. This afternoon it was really cold and when it is like that it is really difficult to get the tyres warm and get the grip we are looking for. We tried to modify a few things but we never really found the right solution. We have some ideas to go much softer with the setting and then put more weight on the tyre. I am not that happy when conditions are like this, it looks like being cold again tomorrow but not raining I hope that is the case!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Chris went very well in the wet this afternoon which was very good to see, but the most important result of today is that we can judge that we have taken a step forward with the GSV-R at Phillip Island in terms of chassis geometry and power delivery, both of which are helping to make a more consistent lap-time. “In the dry Loris was only 0.2 seconds away from third place and was able to lap very close to his best time on tyres which were at the end of quite a long run. Obviously for both conditions we’ve still got a heap of work to do to close up to the front guys, and we know there is a lot more work to do with the bike to take it to where Suzuki feel that it can be, but at the same time the direction is correct and that gives us confidence for the rest of the weekend and for the future potential.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: DE PUNIET FIFTH OVERALL ON DAY ONE AT CHILLY PHILLIP ISLAND Phillip Island, 3 October: Changeable spring weather was the main factor in today’s opening free practice for the Australian Grand Prix, with LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy de Puniet finishing fifth overall. The Frenchman posted his fastest lap of 1’31.070 in the morning first free session which was held in the dry with track temperature of 27°C. Then, rain-shower fell in the afternoon at the 4.448 Km racetrack (the asphalt temperature was just 15°C) so the premier class riders focused their job mainly on tyre testing. The 27-year-old aboard the Michelin-shod Honda RC212V set impressive lap times in the wet but made a mistake at 10 minutes to go crashing out in turn eight. Luckily Randy escaped unhurt from the incident and will be back on track tomorrow for the qualifying session that is likely to be run in wet conditions. De Puniet 5th: “This morning I lapped consistently fast in the dry and we found a good overall package. I felt pretty satisfied about my pace but in the afternoon the conditions changed completely. Anyway we started with good lap times in the wet as well even if the rear tyre was to soft and I had to come in after few laps to change it. When I came out to improve my lap time, we used a harder compound in the rear and I made a mistake in turn 8. I pushed to much and the tyre was not warm enough so lost the rear and went out in the grass. I want to give my apologies to the Team because it was also dangerous for my wrist”.