FIAT YAMAHA TEAM COMPLETE IMPORTANT TYRE TEST IN CATALUNYA After a gruelling fortnight of back-to-back races, there was one final day’s work left for the Fiat Yamaha Team today as they completed a day of tyre testing at Montmelo. Despite having had little time to recover from their efforts during yesterday’s spectacular MotoGP race, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were nonetheless back out on their M1s under the sweltering Spanish sun for a full day’s work, concentrating exclusively on testing a variety of tyres for Michelin. Today was especially important as it was the last time the team will test until after Brno in August, by which time they will have completed five more races. The unofficial fastest time of the day was set by John Hopkins on a qualifying tyre, who posted a lap of 1’41.40. Rossi completed 77 laps and was fourth fastest in a time of 1’42.72 whilst Edwards set a best lap of 1’43.41, putting him 12th fastest after 82 laps. The team and riders now have a ten-day break in which to recharge their batteries before the next pair of races, firstly at Donington in the UK, where Rossi lives, and then at Assen in Holland. Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Today with Valentino and Colin we’ve concentrated entirely on tyre testing with Michelin; that was the main target of today and really the only job we’ve done. We’ve done quite a lot of testing over the last few weeks, after Le Mans and then also here and we’ve given a huge amount of information to Michelin and improved each time. Le Mans was a very important test and put us in good shape for Mugello but of course there’s always room for improvement and that was the aim of today’s test. We tried working in a slightly new direction today with both riders and it seems to be working well, we’re pleased with the day’s work. Of course when you’re working at this level the improvements and changes are only very small but they’re always important and this is why we keep on working so hard. We also had a test rider here today, Andrew Pitt, so that we could test additional tyres and get even more information. We’re really making every effort in this area together with Michelin so we have to thank them for their hard work. Now we have some time to rest, which everyone really deserves after such a hard two weeks, and then we’ll go to Donington and see how we get on there!” Test Times: 1. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’41.40 2. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda Gresini 1’42.63 3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’42.68 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’42.72 5. Alex Barros (BRA) Pramac d’Antin 1’42.78 6. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’43.00 7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team 1’43.05 8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’43.16 9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team 1’43.23 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’43.28 11. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda 1’43.37 12. Colin Edwards (USA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’43.41 13. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda LCR 1’43.65 14. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.80 15. Alex Hofmann (GER) Pramac d’Antin 1’43.83 16. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.90 17. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Yamaha Test Team 1’44.49 18. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki 1’44.73 More, from a press releas issued by Marlboro Ducati: A TWO-DAYS TESTING SESSION IN CATALUNYA FOR STONER AND CAPIROSSI The day after the epic Catalan Grand Prix, that saw Casey Stoner emerging winner from a breathtaking duel with Valentino Rossi, and Loris Capirossi charging through from 17th to 6th position, both were out on the track again for a supplementary two-day testing session. Another day of good weather allowed the two Ducati Marlboro Team riders to concentrate on their Bridgestone tyres tests. Stoner, notched up a best time of 1m42.68s in his 39 laps while Capirossi, who worked also on the set up of his Desmosedici, lapped in 1m43.30s. Tomorrow the end of the tests. Today lap times Casey Stoner 1m42.68s (41 laps) Loris Capirossi 1m43.30s (50 laps) More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: KONICA MINOLTA Honda stays on for testing at Catalunya Following on from yesterday’s exciting Catalan MotoGP race, many riders and Teams stayed on for a day’s testing at the 2.9mile Montmeló circuit. KONICA MINOLTA Honda rider Shinya Nakano spent most of the day in the saddle, spending three hours on circuit in the morning and a further four hours in the afternoon as he and the Team tested Michelin tyres and different suspension settings to improve the feeling and feedback from their 800cc Honda RC212V race machine. The whole test was very positive for the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team, as their 29-year-old Japanese rider recorded a lap-time almost a second-and-a-half quicker than his best during yesterday’s 25-lap race. Shinya suffered a low-speed crash towards the end of the day at the second-gear corner at the end of the back-straight, but didn’t suffer any injuries and was able to use his second bike for the remaining 15 minutes of the day. The MotoGP season resumes in just under a fortnight’s time at Donington Park in Great Britain. Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (76 laps 1’43.475″) “The crash at the end wasn’t a big problem, we just lost grip at the front and down I went. I’m fine, no injuries! I’m pleased with our work today as we made some improvements to the feeling from the front of the bike by changing to different specification front forks. We also tried a different rear shock and I think the front and rear combination balance was better than yesterday’s race. We also tried six different rear tyres which should help us for the next race at Donington Park. We recorded a better time than during yesterday’s race, which shows our improvement so I’m a lot more positive for the next few races.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today we have had the possibility to have a complete day’s testing on track, which has been very important considering our present need to improve our overall technical package. It has been beneficial to have the time to try some different set-up configurations and check some other things, as it is difficult to do this over a normal race weekend thanks to a lack of practice time. First of all today we started working on the suspension settings, starting from the race setting we used yesterday. We tried to find a new solution for both the rear suspension and the front forks. In the afternoon we worked on some new rear tyres with a new type of construction developed by Michelin. On the whole the indications have been positive. We haven’t found any massive improvements, but we didn’t expect to, instead it’s been important to make small improvements with the technical package we already have at our disposal, and this is what we are doing in time for the next round of the MotoGP series in Great Britain. At the end of the day’s testing, Shinya suffered a small crash at the second-gear corner called La Caixa, just after the back straight. It was nothing serious and 15 minutes later he could go out on track again and complete the day’s testing with his second bike.”