FIM MotoGP World Championship Le Mans, France May 16, 2008 Free Practice Two Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:34.227 2. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:34.276 3. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:34.287 4. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:34.487 5. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:34.630 6. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Bridgestone, 1:34.959 7. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:35.047 8. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.073 9. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:35.133 10. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:35.239 11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:35.256 12. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.378 13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), Michelin, 1:35.450 14. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:35.678 15. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:35.848 16. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:35.877 17. Toni ELIAS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:36.039 18. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:36.414 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Fastest in both the morning and afternoon MotoGP sessions in Le Mans, Dani Pedrosa holds the early advantage ahead of the Alice Grand Prix de France. The Repsol Honda rider and current leader of the MotoGP World Championship recorded a 1´34.227 lap of the newly-modified circuit to end the day one step ahead of his premier class rivals. He did so in the afternoon run by the slimmest of margins, less than five-hundredths of a second ahead of reigning MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner. Only a further eleven-thousandths of a second down was 2007 poleman Colin Edwards, who rounded off one of the closest top threes that one is likely to see. Only slightly slower than the top trio, Jorge Lorenzo was once again injured and once again in fourth place. The Spaniard is in better condition than he was two weeks ago in Shanghai, although a late run-off problem and some still-tender ankles meant that the Fiat Yamaha rookie´s last action of the day involved being stretchered back to his garage. Last year´s race winner in the wet, Chris Vermeulen proved himself equally adept under dry conditions at Le Mans, coming in fifth at only four-tenths of a second slower than Pedrosa. His presence made it four different manufacturers and five different teams in the top fistful of riders. Valentino Rossi was the sole rider unable to improve on his morning time in the afternoon, finishing sixth overall, ahead of San Carlo Honda Gresini´s Shinya Nakano, home rider Randy de Puniet, Kawasaki man John Hopkins and MotoGP rookie Alex de Angelis on day one. 250cc Mapfre Aspar´s Alvaro Bautista was the 250cc category top dog on Friday afternoon, taking provisional pole for Sunday´s Alice Grand Prix de France with a 1´38.479 lap. The Spaniard leapfrogged Lotus Aprilia´s Alex Debon in the final moments of the session, which closed proceedings on day one at Le Mans. Debon was just a tenth of a second down on the former 125cc World Champion, with both onboard the latest Aprilia machinery. Behind them himself only a tenth of a second slower than Debon- was Marco Simoncelli onboard his Metis Gilera machinery. Polaris World´s Mattia Pasini and Emmi-Caffe Latte man Thomas Luthi were also in the mix representing Aprilia, ahead of Repsol KTM´s Julian Simon, Gilera rider and former World Champion Manuel Poggiali, Spaniard Aleix Espargaro and Shanghai podium finisher Hiroshi Aoyama. The latter´s Red Bull KTM teammate, standings leader Mika Kallio, was tenth quickest. There was a high-speed lowside crash for Karel Abraham, whilst Hector Barbera suffered a mechanical problem in the opening third of the session and struggled thereafter. Late on, Espargaro experienced difficulties with his exhaust and had to pull over after crossing the line. 125cc Sergio Gadea put himself in the driving seat at Le Mans in the afternoon qualifying session, taking provisional pole on the 125cc grid with a 1´43.515 lap onboard his Bancaja Aspar Aprilia. The winner of the 2007 race at the French circuit held off Britain´s Bradley Smith, himself a former podium finisher in Le Mans and the man responsible for three poles from a possible four thus far in 2008, by just under a tenth of a second. The duo were joined by Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing´s Stefan Bradl and World Championship leader Simone Corsi in pencilling their names on the front row. As things stand, Mike di Meglio will be heading the second row at his home race, still less than half a second down on Gadea. Accompaniment comes in the respective forms of Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro and Joan Olive, a three-pronged Spanish attack from the second line. Another pair of Spaniards, Marc Marquez and Efren Vazquez, had the biggest collision of the session, although both were unharmed in the incident. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI DUO SEE IMPROVEMENTS AT LE MANS Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West finished today’s opening practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s French Grand Prix in ninth and 16th positions respectively, after focussing on refining machine set-up during the two, one-hour track sessions. Hopkins spent most of the two practice sessions perfecting the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR to suit the stop-start, hard braking nature of the 4.18km Bugatti circuit. The Anglo-American ran through different tyre options with Bridgestone, lapping quickly and consistently, despite some difficulties with feeling in the front end of his machine. Hopkins remains confident ahead of tomorrow, where he is sure that with some further refinements in the set-up of his Kawasaki, he can improve his lap time significantly. The 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot ended the day with a best time of 1’35.133, less than a second off fastest man, Dani Pedrosa. Teammate West ended the practice sessions in more confident mood compared to previous rounds. The Australian, who makes his Le Mans debut on a MotoGP machine this weekend, feels more comfortable on his Ninja ZX-RR, after Kawasaki’s engineers made minor changes to the power delivery of their 800cc, inline four-cylinder engine. While he was unhappy with his finishing position today, West admitted he was able to lap more consistently and he remains confident that, tomorrow, he can improve on his final lap time of 1’35.877. The 26-year-old is aware of the particular areas of the track where traction issues are slowing him down, and the Kawasaki pilot is hoping that with the data collected today the team can continue making improvements during tomorrow’s qualifying session. John Hopkins #21: 9th 1’35.133 “Le Mans is a track I quite enjoy and although the position isn’t where we want to be, I’m feeling confident. We’ve used the practice sessions today to find a tyre combination that works well in both the front and rear. At the moment we’re struggling a little bit with feeling in the front-end, which is costing us time. It’s nothing particularly major as we can lap quickly and consistently, but I feel that an improvement in this will reduce our lap time considerably. We have a few ideas on how to achieve this and tomorrow we’ll be aiming for a good qualifying position.” Anthony West #13: 16th 1’35.877 “I’m feeling a little bit more confident here today than I have in previous rounds. The circuit seems to suit our bike, as there are not so many turns here where the bike is leaned over for long periods of time, and this is where we’ve experienced problems in the past. We’ve made some alterations to my Ninja ZX-RR and I feel a lot more comfortable as I can use the bike’s strength on corner entry to put together reasonable lap times. The position isn’t anywhere near where we want to be, but I can lap consistently and this is a good sign as we were unable to do this before. There are two longer corners in the track where we need to improve traction, but we have some direction now and I hope we can continue with this tomorrow.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Today we have been trying many tyre combinations that suit different conditions, as the weather here in Le Mans is very changeable. With John we have found a good set-up, although this needs to be refined in order for him to achieve the position we are looking for. Anthony is making steps forward and his lap times are much more consistent. We have altered the power delivery of his machine, which has made a big difference and the aim is to build on this further during tomorrow. We still have a lot of work to do but I am confident we can gain a good result here.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: SIXTH PLACE FOR ROSSI ON DAY ONE IN FRANCE Valentino Rossi rode his Fiat Yamaha Team M1 to sixth place on the opening day of the Grand Prix of France in Le Mans today. Although some bad weather is expected over the weekend, today was mostly dry save a few spots of rain which fell over the 4.180km Bugatti Circuit during the afternoon session. Rossi was quick during the morning practice, setting the third fastest time, but this afternoon work with different tyres and settings were not as effective as hoped and he failed to improve on his time from this morning. It was nonetheless a fruitful day for Rossi and his team as they were able to gather valuable data for Bridgestone at what is another new circuit for this year’s package of bike and tyres. Despite the mixed weather forecasts for tomorrow, the 29-year-old is hopeful of two more dry sessions as he looks to refine the setting of his YZR-M1 in race trim before attempting to become the first rider to win two races this season on Sunday. Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile battled through the pain of the two fractured ankles he sustained in China and the inconvenience of a small crash this afternoon to end the day fourth fastest in the combined standings. Valentino Rossi Position: 6th Time: 1’34.886 Laps: 49 “This morning we started quite well, I had a good rhythm and I was able to be third fastest with a good time. This afternoon to begin with it was also okay but then we tried some different things and it wasn’t so good; we tried a tyre I didn’t like so much and also a setting that didn’t feel so good so overall the result was not great! We weren’t able to improve our time from the morning but we actually learned quite a lot, which I hope will help us, so now we just need to work hard to decide what is the best way for tomorrow. I am confident we can improve. The weather isn’t so good, with some spots of rain, but actually we expected worse for Le Mans, so if this is as bad as it gets I will be happy! It may rain properly tomorrow in which case we will have different things to work on; I would prefer it to be dry of course but we will have to wait and see. It wasn’t a perfect day but we know why we didn’t improve so we’re not too worried.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Today we mostly focused on checking the different tyres that we have available to us here and finding the best one, together with refining our base setting. We’ve been able to eliminate some options and found some that are better, so now the next step will be to put the best of everything together and try to perfect the package. This morning we were quite fast and then this afternoon things weren’t quite so good and we weren’t able to improve, but we now have a lot of information available to us so we will study it together with the engineers and with Bridgestone and decide the best path to follow. If tomorrow is wet then we will have to rely on today’s information in the event of a dry race, so we would prefer it to be like this again tomorrow.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO BACK ON BOARD AND BATTLING ON DESPITE INJURIES Following on from his eventful weekend in China two weeks ago, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo was back on his M1 at Le Mans today, battling on despite the pain of two fractured ankles. The injuries he sustained in China have not yet had time to fully recover but the 21-year-old is able to ride and finished the day an impressive fourth in the overall standings, despite a small crash this afternoon. It was straight down to business from the off this morning for the Mallorcan and he finished the first session second in the standings, despite this being the first time he has ridden a MotoGP bike at this track. This afternoon he continued to work on refining his settings and tyre choices and the Michelin rider was able to improve on his time from the morning by 0.3 seconds, despite losing grip and sliding out at turn two near the end of the session. Luckily however he escaped any further injury and the damage to his bike was also minimal. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon, whilst the time sheets were topped by Dani Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4th Time: 1’34.487 Laps: 56 “The first thing I did when I crashed this afternoon was to stand up in order to check that I hadn’t done any more damage! Luckily it’s okay and I don’t think I have made anything worse and at the moment I don’t need to have any injections, which is better for me. The pain in my ankles is not so bad and to ride is okay, the main problem is that I am lacking the confidence that I know I should have, but I just need to keep thinking positively and I am sure that this will come soon. We need to work on the electronics a bit and also the suspension, and then I think we can make another step, but anyway we’ve made a good start today overall. If it stays dry then I think I will have the possibility to fight for the pole position, but if it’s wet it will be a different story so we are hoping for good weather!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Unfortunately this afternoon Jorge crashed in turn two, when he was at the maximum lean angle and he lost the front and the rear. After China it was a fright for everyone but he got up quickly and luckily he is okay, as is the bike! Aside from this, his performance today has been very good considering his physical condition and it seems he’s able to ride okay. We need to work on the grip under acceleration because at the moment the bike is a bit unstable, and we also need to improve the contact in the front because we’re wheelying a bit too much. It’s been a good start though and tomorrow we will keep going like this and try to improve even more.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: STONER SECOND FASTEST AT LE MANS, MELANDRI MAKES LATE PROGRESS Casey Stoner ended the first day of free practice for the Grand Prix de France as the second fastest rider around the Le Mans circuit on a cool (19° C) but, most importantly, dry start to the weekend. The World Champion ended the day satisfied with the job done by his crew as he made gradual progress with the setting of his Ducati, after finding a fast and consistent pace on race tyres. Marco Melandri has yet to find the perfect set-up for this track despite finding some impressive pace through the first two splits. The Italian now hopes to improve around the second half of the circuit, particularly under braking, and find an optimum set-up for the race – as he did in China two weeks ago. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd fastest: 1’34.276 “We’re struggling a little bit in T4, as we did last year. We need a little more acceleration coming onto the straights and it’s a bit difficult for us in those tight but long corners. Tomorrow we’ll make some changes to try and improve on that but basically the idea is to compensate for it by making our strong points even stronger. In any case today has been a good step for us because we haven’t been really competitive in the last three races and it’s good to start a Grand Prix in the right way again. This morning was going quite well but the setting wasn’t quite right to be able to show what we could really do and then this afternoon we had a small problem with the engine on one of the bikes. The setting on the second bike wasn’t perfect but the team made a small change that allowed me to go seven tenths quicker, so I was delighted with that. The weather forecast is a little all over the show, as it usually is here, and you never quite know what you’re going to get so it’s good to get two dry sessions under our belt. I’m happy with what we’ve got so far and ready for whatever the clouds throw at us tomorrow.” MARCO MELANDRI – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th fastest: 1’35.678 “I was hoping to start this weekend a little better but even though engine performance isn’t bad we still haven’t found the right way forward with the set-up of the cycle part. At the moment I can’t brake as hard as I would like. When I’m braking with the bike upright it’s okay but when it’s leaned over the problems start. With a lot of braking areas in the turns at this track it means I’m losing a couple of vital tenths. We’ve done some different tyre tests and even though we’ve found something I like we’re still not getting enough grip. We’ll obviously try to improve that tomorrow because we want to at least be at the same level we reached two weeks ago in China.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: PEDROSA AND REPSOL HONDA ON TOP Repsol Honda French Grand Prix, Le Mans First day of practice, Friday May 16 2008 Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa made a great start to his French GP weekend by setting the pace in today’s opening practice sessions aboard his RC212V. Team-mate Nicky Hayden had a more difficult day, ending up 12th fastest, but the American is confident of improvement tomorrow, so long as the forecast rain stays away. With showers predicted for tomorrow, there was extra pressure on the team to find the best-possible set-up during today’s two one-hour outings, Pedrosa looking superbly smooth and controlled around the historic French circuit, while Hayden worked to improve corner-entry performance. Le Mans has been slightly modified for this year’s event. The Garage Vert hairpin at the bottom of the circuit been adapted to improve run-off. Dani Pedrosa, fastest, 1m 34.227s “We worked very hard today because we heard that the weather forecast for tomorrow isn’t so good. At least we did get two hours of dry track time, which we dedicated to quickly finding a good basic set-up and then doing some work on tyre choice for Sunday’s race. The revised part of the circuit seems quite bumpy, so I ran straight on there several times during the day, same as a few other riders. Overall I’m feeling quite happy about my machine after this first day but we must keep our heads down and keep working hard because the top few riders are all very close together on lap times.” Nicky Hayden, 12th fastest, 1m 35.378s “Things didn’t go as smooth as we’d have liked today. Braking at this track is so important and I don’t have a good feeling when I’m braking. Straight line or leaned over, the front end doesn’t feel so good. I don’t know why, but I was hurting a little bit in that area in China too. We’re basically a full second off the pace and that’s a lot on a 1 minute 34 lap, so we need to sort something overnight. We really never found a direction all day, we were chasing our tails, so that makes it hard, and it’s never good to fall behind when there’s rain in the forecast. I know the team will work hard, so I’m confident in that.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “The problem here is the weather forecast. That made it extra important for both riders to find a good setting today, in case there is some rain during tomorrow’s two sessions. Dani seems quite happy, Nicky still has some work to do. Michelin are doing a great job with the tyres, they’re coming up with many good solutions whatever the weather: hot, cold, rain.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Strong first day for Vermeulen and Rizla Suzuki MotoGP in France Rizla Suzuki MotoGP’s Australian star Chris Vermeulen had a positive first day’s free practice, in readiness for Sunday’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans. Vermeulen (1’34.630, 55 laps) topped the time sheets in both this morning’s and this afternoon’s sessions, before finally recording the fifth fastest time of the day, just 0.403 seconds behind the day’s best time set by championship leader Dani Pedrosa. Team-mate Loris Capirossi also topped the time sheets during both sessions, as the Suzuki GSV-R showed its potential around the 4,185m French circuit. Capirossi (P11, 1’35.256, 58 laps) couldn’t quite match Vermeulen’s performance today, but will study the data this evening to help him improve on his position tomorrow. Today’s practices were held in dry but overcast conditions and, with the forecast for heavy rain during part of this weekend, the team must be ready for any conditions during tomorrow morning’s final free practice session and the afternoon’s qualifying, as they prepare for Sunday’s 28-lap race. Chris Vermeulen: “Le Mans is a special track for me after my first Grand Prix win here last year. I have great memories and I’m really looking forward to this weekend. I think we have got the base settings about right, we progressed a lot in China despite our misfortune in the race and we learnt quite a bit about the GSV-R. The bike has worked really well here from the beginning and although we made a few modifications we are really pleased with where we are at the moment. We tried a number of tyres from our allocation and things seem to be quite positive on that side as well. I still think we have some room for improvement tomorrow. We’ll try a few more things and hopefully move up the order!” Loris Capirossi: “I struggled a bit too much with the bike today and I never found a good set-up, but we have a good setting in the team already because Chris went much better than me and we will look at his data and see if it can help us tomorrow. We still need to get some more control out of the bike and we will try a couple of different things on Saturday. I am quite happy with the performance of the tyres, so we just need to sort out a couple of other things and I’m sure we’ll be up with the front guys. We have to keep working hard and I need to improve a lot in sections three and four as I’m really slow through there, but I know what is needed and I will be going for it tomorrow!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “The team has good memories of Le Mans after Chris’s incredible win here last year in the wet, but today we were grateful that the weather held off and we could continue to improve the GSV-R in the dry conditions. Chris had a disappointing Shanghai, but it clearly hasn’t affected him at all, and this has been his most competitive Friday this year. He has been consistently fast and has built up his level step-by-step and he’ll be looking to move even closer to the podium pace tomorrow. “Loris is missing a bit of time through the middle section of the track compared to Chris and here a few tenths makes a huge difference to your position. The guys will be studying the difference between the two riders in those sections and Loris’s crew will be hoping to find some improvements to help him take the next step.” More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: FIRST DAY OF WORK ON THE LE MANS CIRCUIT FOR THE ALICE TEAM Alice Team is back in action on the Bugatti circuit in Le Mans after the Chinese race. Toni Elias and Sylvain Guintoli didn’t make it to repeat the progress seen in China, but have encountered some difficulties to adapt to the historic French circuit on their Ducati Desmosedici GP8 SAT. Both riders, during the afternoon session, have improved their respective performances registered during the morning, but it hasn’t been enough to obtain a good position. The two Alice Team riders have in fact positioned in seventeenth and eighteenth place. Toni and Sylvain will have another hour at their disposal to try to improve Tomorrow morning before the qualifying session which will begin at 13.55 local time. Fabiano Sterlacchini — Technical Director “We are working to understand what is the biggest problem. For sure we didn’t begin in the best way possible. We have tried different solutions without obtaining nothing satisfying. We had some new material at our disposal, but this morning we preferred to go back at the material used in China. Tomorrow morning, if we’ll think it necessary, we could use it again.” Toni Elias — Alice Team rider (17th best lap time in 1:36.039; Total laps 51) “We expected to be much more competitive since the begin, instead we had many problems. We have improved compared this morning, a little step forward that isn’t sufficient for us. We hope to be able to solve the problems we found for tomorrow and Sunday’s race. This isn’t surely an easy track for us. The only thing we can and must do is to work even harder.” Sylvain Guintoli — Alice Team rider (18th best lap time in 1:36.414; Total laps 50) “Every time we begin to work on a new track, with my new bike, we start with too much distance from the fastest and we have to chase. In the afternoon we have improved by more than a second, but we must do much more. I want to do well in front of my public and today’s result isn’t satisfying. We have to work hard tomorrow to be able to be competitive for Sunday’s race.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Edwards quickest Yamaha rider with third fastest time Following on from his eventful weekend in China two weeks ago, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo was back on his M1 at Le Mans today, battling on despite the pain of two fractured ankles. The injuries he sustained in China have not yet had time to fully recover but the 21-year-old is able to ride and finished the day an impressive fourth just behind Yamaha collegue Colin Edwards. It was straight down to business from the off this morning for the Mallorcan and he finished the first session second in the standings, despite this being the first time he has ridden a MotoGP bike at this track. This afternoon he continued to work on refining his settings and tyre choices and the Michelin rider was able to improve on his time from the morning by 0.3 seconds, despite losing grip and sliding out at turn two near the end of the session. Luckily however he escaped any further injury and the damage to his bike was also minimal. Lorenzo’s team-mate Valentino Rossi was sixth fastest this afternoon, whilst the time sheets were topped by Dani Pedrosa. Jorge Lorenzo 4th 1’34.487 “The first thing I did when I crashed this afternoon was to stand up in order to check that I hadn’t done any more damage! Luckily it’s okay and I don’t think I have made anything worse and at the moment I don’t need to have any injections, which is better for me. The pain in my ankles is not so bad and to ride is okay, the main problem is that I am lacking the confidence that I know I should have, but I just need to keep thinking positively and I am sure that this will come soon. We need to work on the electronics a bit and also the suspension, and then I think we can make another step, but anyway we’ve made a good start today overall. If it stays dry then I think I will have the possibility to fight for the pole position, but if it’s wet it will be a different story so we are hoping for good weather!” Danielle Romagnoli – Team Manager “Unfortunately this afternoon Jorge crashed in turn two, when he was at the maximum lean angle and he lost the front and the rear. After China it was a fright for everyone but he got up quickly and luckily he is okay, as is the bike! Aside from this, his performance today has been very good considering his physical condition and it seems he’s able to ride okay. We need to work on the grip under acceleration because at the moment the bike is a bit unstable, and we also need to improve the contact in the front because we’re wheelying a bit too much. It’s been a good start though and tomorrow we will keep going like this and try to improve even more.” Valentino Rossi was quick during the morning practice, setting the third fastest time, but this afternoon work with different tyres and settings were not as effective as hoped and he failed to improve on his time from this morning. It was nonetheless a fruitful day for Rossi and his team as they were able to gather valuable data for Bridgestone at what is another new circuit for this year’s package of bike and tyres. Despite the mixed weather forecasts for tomorrow, the 29-year-old is hopeful of two more dry sessions as he looks to refine the setting of his YZR-M1 in race trim before attempting to become the first rider to win two races this season on Sunday. Valentino Rossi 6th 1’34.886 “This morning we started quite well, I had a good rhythm and I was able to be third fastest with a good time. This afternoon to begin with it was also okay but then we tried some different things and it wasn’t so good; we tried a tyre I didn’t like so much and also a setting that didn’t feel so good so overall the result was not great! We weren’t able to improve our time from the morning but we actually learned quite a lot, which I hope will help us, so now we just need to work hard to decide what is the best way for tomorrow. I am confident we can improve. The weather isn’t so good, with some spots of rain, but actually we expected worse for Le Mans, so if this is as bad as it gets I will be happy! It may rain properly tomorrow in which case we will have different things to work on; I would prefer it to be dry of course but we will have to wait and see. It wasn’t a perfect day but we know why we didn’t improve so we’re not too worried.” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “Today we mostly focused on checking the different tyres that we have available to us here and finding the best one, together with refining our base setting. We’ve been able to eliminate some options and found some that are better, so now the next step will be to put the best of everything together and try to perfect the package. This morning we were quite fast and then this afternoon things weren’t quite so good and we weren’t able to improve, but we now have a lot of information available to us so we will study it together with the engineers and with Bridgestone and decide the best path to follow. If tomorrow is wet then we will have to rely on today’s information in the event of a dry race, so we would prefer it to be like this again tomorrow.” The Tech 3 Yamaha team made a fast start to its home race at the historic Le Mans circuit in France today with Colin Edwards posting the third fastest time in the opening free practice sessions. Edwards led the session for a long period as he moved to the top of the timesheets after just 16 minutes. It was over 30 minutes later before he was overhauled in the closing minutes, but the Tech 3 rider was happy with a significant improvement in rear grip helped by a set-up change he first tried in China. Today’s result boosted Edwards’ confidence of extending his impressive record at the Le Mans circuit. The 4.185km track has been a happy hunting ground for Edwards, who scored the first pole position of his career in Le Mans a year ago. The circuit was also the scene of his first Yamaha podium in 2005. James Toseland was 15th fastest on a difficult first day for the British rider. Le Mans is the third in a run of five tracks that Toseland has no previous experience of, and he spent the majority of today mastering the circuit, while also trying to optimise the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine. He clocked a best time of 1.35.848, but is confident that overnight set-up changes to find more rear grip will help move him much further up the field tomorrow. Colin Edwards 3rd 1’34.287 “It’s a case of so far so good. I got my first pole position here and my first podium for Yamaha but we have yet to win one so that’s what we need to focus on. I kept the China set-up that was a bit foreign for us there just to play around with it and it works really good here too, and I think we have already got a race tyre. My best lap was on the 16th lap of a race tyre and I did 25 laps on another rear tyre, so we have pretty much got a race tyre sorted which is good and I’m not stressing about that at all. The biggest thing we have been concentrating on is traction. In the first three races we never had a problem with traction and in China we had a big problem. So with the big change we made in China it is working better. I tried the standard setting first this morning but as soon as I went to the China set-up I was faster immediately. The bike is a bit more nervous and twitchy under acceleration and I don’t feel as smooth as I normally do, but I’ve got traction. If we can save the tyre by not spinning it as much and actually getting load on it and getting grip then I don’t mind it moving around a bit. When I came here for the first time in 2003 I hated this place with a passion, but since I joined Yamaha I really clicked with it. The handling characteristics of the bike really help at this track. This is obviously the team’s home race and I’m desperate to put on a good show for them, and today was a good start.” James Toseland 15th 1’35.848 “I started off strong this morning but we pretty much hit a brick wall this afternoon. We tried a new direction with the set-up and it was the wrong way, so it was a bit frustrating. It’s not the end of the world because we have got some good ideas for tomorrow. We know the direction that we went in was wrong and it was quite a lot wrong to be honest with how it was finding the grip. I just didn’t have enough weight on the rear and I couldn’t find any grip off the corners. It was spinning up a lot and I couldn’t drive off the longer corners and that’s what cost me in China too. We really need to improve in this area because entry speed and mid-corner I’m not too bad, its just we are losing all the time on the exit. I’m on full throttle and I can’t do anymore. Luckily my comments are the same as what the computer is saying so we know where we went wrong and my guys will sort it out as they always do. Valentino pushes his rear tyre forward in the swingarm and we might have to do that to get more weight on the tyre. Maybe I need to run a softer rear spring in the shock too so it loads up a bit quicker. I really like the track. It is a lot shorter so I can do a lot more laps. I’m doing ten more laps in an hour than I was in China. I was 1.6s off on the first day in Estoril and China and it’s the same today, though I’m finding it harder with the set-up than at those last two races. But with the changes we’ve got planned I can make up a lot of time and I’m still optimistic of getting a good result for the team in what is a very important race for them.”