FIM MotoGP World Championship Brno, Czech Republic August 18 Friday Afternoon Practice Times: 1. Valentino ROSSI (Yam YZR-M1), 1:57.871, Michelin 2. Randy DE PUNIET (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:58.028, Bridgestone 3. Loris CAPIROSSI (Duc GP06), 1:58.470, Bridgestone 4. Colin EDWARDS (Yam YZR-M1), 1:58.851, Michelin 5. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (Hon KR211V), 1:59.119, Michelin 6. Shinya NAKANO (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:59.240, Bridgestone 7. Carlos CHECA (Yam YZR-M1), 1:59.254, Dunlop 8. Dani PEDROSA (Hon RC211V), 1:59.258, Michelin 9. Marco MELANDRI (Hon RC211V), 1:59.313, Michelin 10. John HOPKINS (Suz GSV-R), 1:59.406, Bridgestone 11. Nicky HAYDEN (Hon RC211V), 1:59.515, Michelin 12. Casey STONER (Hon RC211V), 1:59.607, Michelin 13. Makoto TAMADA (Hon RC211V), 1:59.919, Michelin 14. Toni ELIAS (Hon RC211V), 1:59.995, Michelin 15. Alex HOFMANN (Duc GP06), 2:00.507, Bridgestone 16. Chris VERMEULEN (Suz GSV-R), 2:01.375, Bridgestone 17. James ELLISON (Yam YZR-M1), 2:02.426, Dunlop 18. Jose Luis CARDOSO (Duc GP05), 2:02.730, Dunlop 19. Ivan SILVA (Duc GP05), 2:04.244, Dunlop Combined Best Practice Times: 1. ROSSI, 1:57.871 2. DE PUNIET, 1:58.028 3. CAPIROSSI, 1:58.470 4. EDWARDS, 1:58.851 5. ROBERTS, 1:59.119 6. NAKANO, 1:59.240 7. CHECA, 1:59.254 8. PEDROSA, 1:59.258 9. MELANDRI, 1:59.313 10. HAYDEN, 1:59.387 11. HOPKINS, 1:59.406 12. STONER, 1:59.607 13. ELIAS, 1:59.893 14. TAMADA, 1:59.919 15. HOFMANN, 2:00.507 16. VERMEULEN, 2:01.074 17. ELLISON, 2:02.426 18. CARDOSO, 2:02.730 19. SILVA, 2:04.244 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: CAPIROSSI BACK WITH A BANG AT BRNO Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi made a rapid return to the racetrack today following MotoGP’s month-long break, posting the third fastest time at hot and sunny Brno. Team-mate Alex Hofmann was 15th, riding in place of Sete Gibernau who has been forced to miss this race following further surgery to the collarbone he broke at June’s Catalan GP. Capirossi worked hard throughout the day to find a set-up that would allow him to get the best out of his Desmosedici, and although he believes there is more to come tomorrow, he is delighted because he was up front even though he didn’t use qualifying tyres. The Italian’s pace – no one was faster on race tyres today – puts the team in optimistic mood for Sunday’s race, round 12 of this year’s 17-round World Championship. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 3rd fastest, 1m 58.028s “I thought it would be easy to find a good set-up up here but it’s not been like that, so I’m not totally happy. We started this morning with what we thought would be good settings but the bike wasn’t easy to turn and we lacked traction. This afternoon we made a lot of changes, especially during the last 20 minutes when it seems we found a good solution. After we made those adjustments I did one lap with a used tyre and then went out with a new race tyre and went very fast. I’m happy, because while I don’t know what tyres the other guys used, I only used race tyres. We have a very competitive bike with great potential but it’s not always easy to find a set-up that allows me to fully exploit its performance. Anyway, I’m doing my best and I know everyone at the factory is working really hard. Now we have a good set-up here we will spend tomorrow working to find the perfect race tyres.” ALEX HOFMANN, 15th fastest, 2m 00.507s “I felt pretty good today. After the break I was just happy to be back on a bike and even happier because it’s the Factory bike! We got up to a decent speed straight away but right now my race pace isn’t enough, although Loris was only half a second faster until he tried a different tyre and went much quicker at the end of the session. Our set-up is okay but the tyres I tried today didn’t give me the feeling I wanted and I struggled with wheelspin, which is unusual here. So I am really looking forward to tomorrow when Bridgestone will open the truck and give me more tyres to try. I feel like I’ve got a lot more to come here.” Afternoon session temperatures: Ambient: 27 degrees. Track: 36 degrees More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: DE PUNIET AND NAKANO ON THE PACE AT BRNO The MotoGP World Championship battle was rejoined today at Brno, with most of the riders now fully fit after three weeks away from the racetrack. But it was Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet who illustrated best the benefits of rest and relaxation on performance, finishing this afternoon’s free practice session in second place, and just one tenth of a second down on reigning world champion, Valentino Rossi. The 25-year-old Frenchman concentrated on the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR during this morning’s opening free practice session, switching between his two race machines frequently as he tested different combinations of suspension and engine settings, as well as a number of different tyres from Kawasaki’s tyre partner, Bridgestone. The Kawasaki rider continued this refinement process during the early part of the afternoon free practice session, before switching to the qualifying tyre on which he set his fastest time of the day to take second place on the timesheet. But more important than his lap time was the renewed confidence instilled in de Puniet by his ability to get the best performance from Bridgestone’s qualifying tyre this afternoon, as a lack of confidence in the increased level of grip offered by the qualifying tyres had an obvious negative effect on the Kawasaki pilot’s qualifying performances ahead of the summer break. De Puniet ended the day satisfied with both the race and qualifying set-up on his Ninja ZX-RR, but remains confident that more improvements can be made during free practice and qualifying tomorrow. Also satisfied with his race set-up was de Puniet’s Kawasaki teammate, Shinya Nakano. The 28-year-old Japanese rider finished this afternoon’s free practice sixth fastest, after running in the top three on the timesheet for the majority of the hour-long session. Nakano is running for the first time at Brno the latest specification Ninja ZX-RR chassis, which has been designed specifically by Kawasaki engineers in Japan to alleviate the rear traction problems experienced at some circuits earlier in the season. After testing the revised chassis during this morning’s practice session, Nakano will continue with this chassis for the remainder of the weekend, as he felt the changes improved both the rear traction and the feedback from the front and rear tyres, especially through Brno’s high speed corners. While some riders opted to run a qualifying tyre at the end of this afternoon’s practice session, Nakano decided to continue refining the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR with a long run on race tyres, leaving the soft rubber for tomorrow’s all-important qualifying session. Randy de Puniet: 2nd – 1’58.028 “Today we’ve concentrated on testing as many different set-up and tyre options as possible on both bikes. For most of the time I was running pretty consistently at two minutes flat, but we didn’t get a chance today to put the best tyres on the bike with the better set-up, so I’m confident that, when we do that tomorrow, we’ll see a significant improvement in my lap time in race trim. Before the summer break I was struggling to get the best from the qualifying tyres, so we decided to run one this afternoon to see if I could regain the confidence I had earlier in the season. I’m happy to say that it worked, with the result that I finished today with the second fastest time. As I said, we still have some work to do on set-up during tomorrow’s free practice session, and I hope I can repeat today’s performance on a qualifier tomorrow afternoon.” Shinya Nakano: 6th – 1’59.240 “In the past Brno has always been one of our problem tracks, but after today I’m not sure that’s true anymore. The revised chassis is certainly an improvement, giving better grip and virtually eliminating the chatter we’ve had previously. To be honest, we’ve had to make very few changes to the set-up of my Ninja ZX-RR since this morning, which has given us more time to focus on evaluating the different tyres that Bridgestone have brought to this race. Compared to last year we also have more revs from the 2006 engine, and this makes the bike a lot easier to ride fast around this circuit. Over a long run this afternoon my times were pretty consistent, which puts us in a good position ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying session. Overall, I’m happy with our progress today; it was a good way to start back after the summer break.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Sports: Rossi gets into the groove with fastest practice time Valentino Rossi – Fastest in Free Practice Fans keen for another slice of MotoGP action headed to Brno today for the first day of practice for Sunday’s Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske republiky, with interspersed sunshine and clouds for the riders fresh from their summer break. An extraordinary time of 1’57.871 put Valentino Rossi at the top of the timesheets after the first two practice session before Sunday’s Grand Prix, and marked a return to form for the reigning World Champion. Having been forced to retire from the last round in the USA with mechnical troubles, the Italian’s lap time was almost a second quicker than his race lap record, and just outside Sete Gibernau’s pole time from last year, showing that the five-time MotoGP World Champion is as keen as ever to retain his crown despite the 51-point gap to leader Nicky Hayden. His scorching lap was not the only surprise of the session though, as a late surge from Randy de Puniet put the French Kawasaki rider into second. Loris Capirossi and Colin Edwards completed the riders to go round in under 1’59. One of the morning’s fastest riders, Kenny Roberts Jr dropped down to fifth place in the afternoon standings, with Shinya Nakano, Carlos Checa and Dani Pedrosa ahead of Marco Melandri and Championship leader Nicky Hayden. Repsol Honda’s American star was unable to better his best time from this morning. Jorge Lorenzo remained at the top of the leaderboard on day one of 250cc practice, taking provisional pole by a clear margin with a time of 2’03.238. Only Andrea Dovizioso, half a second off his rival’s time, was able to come close to the Spaniard on a day when he showed his intent to come back strong after the summer break. Hector Barbera was over 1.4 seconds behind his team-mate in third place, ahead of Alex de Angelis, Alex Debon and Hiroshi Aoyama. The Japanese KTM rider suffered a mechanical problem during the session, affecting his rhythm somewhat. Marco Simoncelli, Shuhei Aoyama, Roberto Locatelli and Martin Cardenas rounded off the top ten. Czech rider Michel Filla suffered a spectacular crash in which he highsided as a result of excess power on the corner exit. Alex Baldolini was ruled out of Sunday’s Grand Prix after a morning session in which he fractured his left wrist. Czech rider Lukas Pesek took provisional pole for his home 125cc race, with a time of 2’08.810. The Derbi rider was less than a tenth of a second ahead of world championship leader Alvaro Bautista, whilst the morning’s fastest rider Mika Kallio and Mattia Pasini rounded off the provisional front row. Julian Simon continued in good form with fifth place, accompanied on row two by Gabor Talmacsi, Fabrizio Lai and Nico Terol. 1st: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha): “I am happy because this year has been difficult so far, especially during the practice we are struggling and starting races from the third or the fourth row. We have some new settings for the suspension to help the tyres work properly, and I’m happy, because it’s already quite good.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Cautiously optimistic after opening day in Brno Czech Republic Grand Prix – Free Practice Brno, Friday 18 August 2006 Bridgestone’s Czech Grand Prix got off to an encouraging and trouble-free start in Brno today with three of its six riders inside the top six of the combined practice classification. French Kawasaki rider Randy de Puniet worked on a combination of race and qualifying set-up during the day and stole second place in the dying moments of this afternoon’s session with a time just 0.157s from Valentino Rossi’s pace-setting lap. De Puniet’s team-mate Shinya Nakano set a string of consistent times in the mid 1m59s while working on a long run, well placing him to be among the challengers this weekend. Loris Capirossi underlined the proven potential of the Ducati Corse team around the 5.403m Brno circuit by clocking the third fastest time of day on his penultimate lap. With Sete Gibernau still recovering from a recent shoulder operation, German Alex Hofmann once again stood in for the Spaniard. Hofmann, who also deputised in Assen and Donington, had to settle for 15th place today. The Suzuki pairing of John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen were classified in 11th and 16th in the combined standings for both practice sessions, although Hopkins ended the second session in tenth place to make it four Bridgestone riders in the top half of the field this afternoon. Typically, it was the track which dictated the accuracy of results obtained on the opening day of the weekend. Dirty, dusty conditions from the outset of first practice this morning lowered the levels of grip offered by the circuit and prompted Bridgestone to adjust tyre compounds accordingly. Tyre performance alone is not as influential as it can be at other circuits, so teams are also under additional pressure to hone and adapt bike set-up to cope with the technicalities of the Brno track. Shinji Aoki Bridgestone Motorsport – Assistant Manager Motorcycle Race Tire Development “We can derive encouragement from what we have achieved in today’s two practice sessions. The track conditions have been dirtier than in previous years, so grip levels have been lower than we would normally expect here. Things have improved as the day has progressed, but it does leave us looking to tomorrow morning’s practice session to ratify today’s results. We are pleased with the long run that Shinya completed this afternoon which gives us quite a firm indication of our consistency and relative competitiveness. We have worked closely with each of our three teams on tyre comparison and selection today, but Brno is a technically demanding circuit, which also requires a lot of work on bike set-up, so we all have a significant role to play in the outcome of Sunday’s race. I am cautiously optimistic that our Bridgestone tyres will be up to the challenge this weekend, but that is dependent on the conditions that greet us for the rest of the weekend.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Resuls Pos. Rider Motorcycle Best Lap Time Gap P2 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m58.028s +0.157s P3 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m58.470s +0.599s P6 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 1m59.240s +1.369s P11 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m59.406s +1.535s P15 Alex Hofmann Ducati 2m00.507s +2.636s P16 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 2m01.375s +3.504s Weather: Hot and Sunny – Air 27°C, Track 36°C, Humidity 17% (afternoon session) More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda: MELANDRI NINTH AFTER DAY ONE IN BRNO, ELIAS 14TH After the mid-season break, the MotoGP World Championship roadshow got back underway in Brno with the Fortuna Honda team preparing themselves for the 12th round of the season at the Czech Republic GP. After putting on a good display in the morning session (Melandri third and Elias eighth), the Fortuna Honda riders continued their efforts in the afternoon session. Marco Melandri declared himself satisfied after securing ninth position, but in truth the time did not reflect his performance as a number of riders moved ahead of him on their qualifying tyres. Elias, who arrived in the Czech Republic in much-improved physical condition, had to settle for 14th place. MARCO MELANDRI ( 1’59″313, 9°): “I am happy with this first day of qualifying, we did a lot of work on the bike in the morning session on the weight distribution which really improved it for this circuit. In the afternoon we tried to work on my feeling with the bike and now we must focus on our cornering. In the afternoon a lot of riders put on qualifying tyres but we decided to follow the plan we had set out.” TONI ELIAS (1’59″995, 14°): “This morning we started well and I felt good on the bike. In the afternoon the difference was that the majority of riders put on qualifying tyres. I am satisfied as the mid-season break gave me time to get back my fitness. Although the shoulder still hurts a bit from the injury and I am not at 100 percent, my overall fitness is much improved.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: ROSSI BACK TO HIS BEST AT BRNO Valentino Rossi got back to dominant form today as the MotoGP World Championship returned to action in the Czech Republic following a brief summer break. The Italian was able to bounce back from his Laguna Seca disappointment with a series of fast laps at the Brno circuit after quickly finding a good base set-up for his YZR-M1 machine. After lapping second quickest in the morning practice, just 0.047 seconds behind series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda), Rossi ended the day on top of the time sheets after improving by almost two seconds in the afternoon with only Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki) able to lap within 0.5 seconds of his best effort. It was also a positive first day for Rossi’s Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards, who started the day with one of his two bikes configured with the same settings used by Rossi on his way to victory and the circuit lap record last season. The information immediately put the Texan on the front foot and, after reacquainting himself with the YZR-M1 machine following his recent exertions on a Superbike in the Suzuka 8 hour race, he was also able to pick up the pace in the afternoon and lapped fourth fastest. VALENTINO ROSSI (1st 1’57.871; 34 laps) “Today was very positive for me because the bike worked well from the start and then we tried some things that improved it even more. We have experimented with some new suspension settings to help the tyres work properly, especially the rear, and they had the effect we wanted so I am happy about this. This year has been difficult because we have struggled so much in practice and then I have ended up on the third or fourth row of the grid, so I am pleased to start off like this. We also tried a qualifying tyre today, in order to give us more of an idea about what we need to adjust tomorrow in the afternoon session in order to challenge for a place at the front of the grid. This is really why I am in first place but anyway the race setting is also good and I was second fastest in the morning practice too so we know we have the pace. Tomorrow we need to continue working like this.” COLIN EDWARDS (4th 1’58.851; 38 laps) “It’s strange that after all the bad luck we’ve had this season we should roll up here at Brno and things suddenly seem to be turning around! We turned up here today and decided to start with two different settings one based on what we found in the test last year and the other on Valentino’s 2005 race setting. I have changed my riding style since then so I went out and tried both this morning and basically Valentino’s setting worked and mine didn’t! I felt really comfortable with that so we went with it in the afternoon and just continued making small modifications so that it suits me better. It’s early days yet but it is important to get a good start and also a relief to know that we are onto something good. Hopefully the good work can continue tomorrow for both Valentino and I.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “It was a good start to the weekend and just what we were looking for after the engineers worked so hard during the summer. This is only the first day and we all know the important thing is to continue like this and make sure we are prepared for qualifying and the race but it is nice to have such good result so early in the weekend. It looks like the bike has responded well for both Valentino and Colin so let’s hope it continues to do so. Today has definitely given the team a boost and there is a very positive spirit here but it is still early days.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: More to come from Rizla Suzuki MotoGP after difficult first day at Brno Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will be hoping to improve on its first day’s performance at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno, where John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen found the going tough as they struggled to find the best set-up for their Suzuki GSV-Rs. Hopkins (P11, 1’59.406,) will be looking to carry on from where he left off at the end of this afternoon’s session. His times steadily improved and he was able to find a good base setting for his bike that both he and his team are sure will be the right direction for Sunday’s race. His fastest time of the day was set on his final lap and he will be hoping to do significantly better than that tomorrow. Vermeulen (P16, 2’01.074) suffered a number of problems including damaging his front wheel when he hit a kerb early on in the morning session. The rookie Australian then encountered a vibration problem in the afternoon, which his team will be hoping to combat in time for tomorrow’s qualifying and Sunday’s race. Today’s practice sessions were held in warm and dry conditions with air temperatures reaching 27°C. The fastest time of the day was set by reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one further practice session tomorrow morning before the hour long qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship and the lights will change to go at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “We were really just getting back into things today – getting back into a rhythm. We have worked a lot with Bridgestone today to get the best tyres we can for Sunday and getting the set-up sorted out. We have a few things to work on overnight but overall it was a pretty decent day. I can’t say we are happy with the 11th place, but we will be a lot happier if we get a better position tomorrow. We have just got to keep chipping away at it and work hard as a team. We need to come out tomorrow and get the best out of qualifying that we can.” Chris Vermeulen: “It’s not quite the start as we have had at the last couple of GPs, we have definitely got some work to do here! I have been to Brno once before but that was on a Superbike and I made a bit of a mistake this morning by not really knowing the track that well – I hit a kerb and broke a wheel. This afternoon we had a lot of chatter and my guys can see the problem and we have some ideas to try tomorrow. We hope we will solve it and that we can make a lot of progress.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Today has not been the best start we have had to a Grand Prix weekend maybe we took a while to wake up after the summer break! We’ve got a number of issues to improve on but it is encouraging that John stepped it up to a decent level towards the end of the second session, and we now have a base setting to work on tomorrow. “We need to find some solutions to help the riders in a number of places but the team will be doing everything they can to improve matters in all areas. There seems to be great potential in some of the new parts that Suzuki has supplied us here at Brno the benefits of which we probably won’t be seeing this weekend. If we can improve some of the restrictions that are affecting the riders today then we hope that we can get the evolution of the GSV-R firmly back on track for the rest of the weekend.”