2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Sachsenring, Germany July 13, 2007 Free Practice One And Two Combined Times: 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:22.737 2. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:23.083 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:23.366 4. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:23.387 5. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:23.413 6. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:23.430 7. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.548 8. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:23.613 9. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:23.645 10. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:23.667 11. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:23.683 12. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.687 13. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:23.856 14. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:24.090 15. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:24.106 16. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:24.200 17. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:24.208 18. Michel FABRIZIO (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:24.748 19. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 1:25.316 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Stoner sets Sachsenring standard Round 10 Germany – Free Practice Sachsenring, Germany Friday 13 July 2007 MotoGP series leader Casey Stoner got the second half of the 2007 season off to a flying start at Sachsenring today by setting the standard in both of Friday’s free practice sessions in preparation for Sunday’s German GP, the tenth round of this year’s championship. The 3.671km track has recently been resurfaced, offering fresh challenges to riders, teams and tyre manufacturers this weekend. The new asphalt is already up to speed with Stoner lapping 0.6s under the fastest lap from last year’s race (1m23.355s set by Dani Pedrosa). Scorching hot conditions are forecast for the rest of the weekend with ambient temperatures likely to top 30 degrees tomorrow and Sunday which could also play a decisive role in tyre performance over long runs on the new asphalt. Of the eighteen representative lap times set by Stoner during this afternoon’s session, seven laps were quicker than the best time set by his nearest challenger. Such was his competitiveness on Bridgestone race tyres this afternoon, Stoner’s best lap of 1m22.737s would have actually placed him tenth in last year’s qualifying session. Injured Spanish rider Toni Elias is being substituted at the Honda Gresini team by Italian Michel Fabrizio this weekend, while both of the Pramac d’Antin riders, Alex Barros and Alex Hofmann, have valiantly ridden despite hand injuries today, the former following a crash in morning practice. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development What types of tyres have Bridgestone teams been working on during today’s two practice sessions? “Across our five teams, we have looked at the performance of both medium and hard specification rear tyres during the day with some encouraging results in the conditions we have seen today. Both specifications of rear tyre have performed well, as we can see from the competitive lap times although the track temperatures have been considerably cooler today than we expect to face tomorrow and Sunday. For this reason, I believe we must wait for the hotter weather to come before assessing our potential for Sunday afternoon’s race.” How has the new asphalt surface affected the results today? “The track surface has been completely updated since last year’s GP. The overall result seems to be that grip levels are higher and the track is less bumpy than previously. The lap times are certainly at a healthy level already with Casey’s best lap time half-a-second or so quicker than the best lap in last year’s race. The weekend is still young and the expectant upturn in track temperature could potentially play an important role, but for the opening day, I am quite satisfied. We have started solidly at a track where our tyres have traditionally struggled in the past.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m23.058s (1) 1m22.737s (1) Fastest P6 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m24.177s (5) 1m23.430s (6) +0.693s P7 Alex Barros Pramac d’Antin 1m24.941s (14) 1m23.548s (7) +0.811s P9 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m24.085s (3) 1m23.645s (9) +0.908s P10 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m24.190s (6) 1m23.667s (10) +0.930s P11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m24.709s (13) 1m23.683s (11) +0.946s P12 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m24.686s (12) 1m23.687s (12) +0.950s P13 Alex Hofmann Pramac d’Antin 1m24.969s (15) 1m23.856s (13) +1.119s P15 Anthony West Kawasaki 1m24.470s (10) 1m24.106s (15) +1.369s P18 Michel Fabrizio Honda Gresini 1m25.854s (17) 1m24.748s (18) +2.011s Weather: Dry track – Air 17°C, Track 19°C, Humidity 83% (Session 1) Dry track Air 20°C, Track 25°C, Humidity 65% (Session 2) More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: SUPERB STONER DOMINATES DAY ONE AT THE ‘RING, CAPIROSSI WORKS ON SET-UP Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner dominated the opening two practice sessions at the Sachsenring today, setting a blistering pace aboard his Desmosedici GP7. Team-mate Loris Capirossi spent the day acquainting himself with a different engine regulation and is confident of moving up from 12th quickest. World Championship leader Stoner ended the day 0.346 seconds ahead of his closest rival and was an impressive six tenths of a second inside the lap record. Capirossi meanwhile announced himself happy with his different engine spec – a mix of the standard GP7 spec and a milder spec he first tried last month. This afternoon’s session was run in warm conditions following some light rain showers this morning. Latest weather forecasts suggest a much hotter weekend with temperatures predicted to reach 35 degrees on Sunday. CASEY STONER, fastest, 1m 22.737 “We seem to be pretty quick straight out of the box, we’ve not had to change too much with the bike. The team is doing a great job because we seem to be doing it pretty easy so far. Yet again, there’s no big straights in this track but the Ducati is showing how good it is on these tight and twisty circuits. We knew it’d be okay here because the bike has been fine at other tight tracks, like Donington and Le Mans. It’s really performing well at every circuit, so long as we do our job right, the bike seems to perform. The Bridgestones seem good here, we’ve used a softer rear and a harder rear, and we’re doing pretty similar lap times with both tyres. I’ve already done a few long runs, now we just need to see what the weather does for tomorrow and get some more laps on the tyres. We’ll have to wait and see what happens if it does get hotter, this new surface seems pretty abrasive so it might improve with the heat or get worse. I don’t like the new surface, it’s a little scary on the bumps in some places, so a few people crashed this morning.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 12th fastest, 1m 23.687s “I’m happy enough, even though I’m 12th. Another three tenths and I would be in the top five, so we are not so far away. Today we worked well enough and the weather is forecast to improve tomorrow, so we will have the chance to make further progress. We are using an engine spec which is a compromise between the standard engine and the different spec we used for the first time at Mugello, and it’s performing well enough. The tyres are okay, today I used the same 16.5 inch rear for 30 laps, so we shouldn’t have any problems with endurance. Tomorrow we will be looking for more rear traction, maybe we’ll sacrifice a little from the front, as always trying to find the best compromise.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: The opening day of practice for the Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland shaped up with the top three riders in the MotoGP World Championship standings leading the way at Sachsenring. Current series leader Casey Stoner clocked the fastest time of the day at the German track, setting out his stall early with a stunning 1’22.737 lap of the tight and twisty circuit. He was the only rider to go round in under 1’23, showing his rivals that they will have to be on their toes to keep up with the young Australian’s pace. A race winner at Sachsenring for the past two years, Valentino Rossi was the second quickest rider in the opening preparations, three and a half tenths of a second slower than his World Championship rival, but was also inside lap record time. Current circuit record holder Dani Pedrosa in turn trailed Rossi by the same margin in third. Given the luxury of exemption from tyre limits on his Dunlop rubber, Yamaha satellite rider Sylvain Guintoli put in an impressive time onboard the M1 which almost certainly came from using a qualifier. The Frenchman was little over half a second slower than Stoner’s time, a gap that he would be pleased to maintain during tomorrow’s timed sessions. Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri completed a top six containing three Honda riders, ahead of walking wounded rider Alex Barros. The Brazilian suffered a nasty-looking crash during the opening practice session, opening up a cut in his hand which required stitches before he returned for his second ride of the day. ‘Texas Tornado’ Colin Edwards, new Kawasaki signing John Hopkins and present ‘Team Green’ rider Randy de Puniet completed the top ten, with the latter two both crashing today. World Champion Nicky Hayden was another crasher in the morning, and had to deal with mechanical problems at the end of the afternoon session, parking his bike up when it reacted angrily down the start/finish straight. 250cc Regular poleman and race winner Jorge Lorenzo wasted no time in asserting his authority in the 250cc qualifying session, laying down the gauntlet for the rest of the field with a 1’24.857 lap. The reigning quarter litre World Champion was matched for pace by Metis Gilera’s Marco Simoncelli, the Italian less than a tenth of a second behind. Alex de Angelis, Hector Barbera, Mika Kallio and Andrea Dovizioso made up the top six, all less than three tenths off Lorenzo’s fastest lap. Whether either of them can deny the Spaniard his seventh pole position of the season remains to be seen, but a number of riders certainly have the pedigree to have a crack. Thomas Luthi deserves special praise for his amazing save during the morning session, showing powers of resurrection to prevent a certain crash when overbalanced on one knee. He did not seem too affected as he later put in the seventh fastest time of the day, quicker than Hiroshi Aoyama, Alvaro Bautista and Julian Simon. 125cc A new circuit best lap of 1’26.930 gave Gabor Talmacsi the provisional 125cc pole position at Sachsenring, over half a second quicker than last year’s race winner and current form rider Mattia Pasini on the Polaris World Aprilia. Sandro Cortese and fastest morning rider Sergio Gadea complete the provisional front row, ahead of World Championship leader Hector Faubel, Lukas Pesek, the returning Bradley Smith and yesterday’s kart racing pre-event winner Michael Ranseder. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Solid first day but more to come from Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen were ninth and 11th quickest respectively after today’s two free practice sessions for the German Grand Prix at Sachsenring. Hopkins (1’23.645, 60 laps) started the day off in determined mood as he recorded the third fastest time during this morning’s session. The Anglo-American worked thoroughly with his team and Bridgestone technicians to find the best combination of race tyres for Sunday’s 30-lap race. Hopkins had a small crash during the afternoon session, but his determination showed through once again as he picked himself up, rode back to the pits and went straight back out on track as soon as his mechanics had made the necessary repairs finishing the session with as many completed laps as any other rider! Vermeulen (1’23’.683, 53 laps) had a tough morning as he worked to improve the setting and performance of the bike. Once all those were sorted he set about improving his lap-times. He consistently lapped quicker and quicker throughout the afternoon, taking over a second off of his morning’s best time. Vermeulen is confident he can improve further tomorrow and be competing with the front runners on Sunday. Today’s quickest time was set by championship leader Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati, as the top-12 riders’ lap-times were all covered by less than a second at the dry but overcast German circuit. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more practice session tomorrow morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s main event gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) and is round 10 of an 18 race season. John Hopkins: “Today’s gone really well except for a little mishap this afternoon! We’ve worked hard with Bridgestone to get the right combination of tyres for the new surface and get the best feel around here. The main thing has been getting a bit of extra edge-grip. I made a small mistake and crashed this afternoon, but I got straight back to the pits and my guys did a great job re-building the bike so I could get back out quickly so well done to them. I’ve got a bit of work to do tomorrow as I need to improve my lines, so that will be one of my goals. The weather looks good for the weekend and I can’t wait to get back out there and do as much as we can to get us up near the front!” Chris Vermeulen: “I really enjoy it here at Sachsenring and the track certainly seems to suit the new 800. The GSV-R is working well here. We had a couple of set-up problems that we had to overcome this morning and few things with the chassis and electronics that needed sorting. The crew did a great job with that and the difference to this afternoon was a lot better. Bridgestone were a bit in the dark as to which tyres to bring for the new surface, but they’ve done a great job as what I’ve tried are working well around here. We’ve got a couple of choices in tyres already for the race and if we can continue to improve our all round package over the weekend, like we have done today, I’m sure we will competitive in the race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Apart from the first two riders on the timesheets it’s ever so close for the rest of the field here at Sachsenring. Both John and Chris are extremely near to a top three position and both of them have improved this afternoon especially Chris. He has halved the gap to the front riders today and I’m sure there is more to come from him as well. This is a track where minute detail makes a big difference to positions, so both crews will be working hard tonight to fine tune everything to give John and Chris every opportunity to improve tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI AND EDWARDS COMMENCE GERMAN CHALLENGE AT THE SACHSENRING After enjoying a short break following his epic victory in Holland, Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi was back in strong form for the first day of the German Grand Prix today, finishing a close second in the combined standings behind Casey Stoner. His team-mate Edwards was a little further back in eighth but both riders were happy with the way they were quickly able to adapt their 800cc YZR-M1s to the twists and turns of the difficult Sachsenring. This morning the tables were reversed with Rossi eighth and Edwards in fourth, with temperatures a little cooler and some light rain beginning to fall towards the end of the session. Despite threatening skies overhead however, this afternoon’s practice remained dry and Rossi and Edwards were able to maximise the time to make steady improvements to their settings and tyres. Both were able to lap comfortably in the 1’23s with Rossi setting a best lap of 1’23.083, over two tenths under the existing lap 900cc record. Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’23.083 Laps: 46 laps “This morning we had some problems when the temperature was lower, especially with the front tyre which takes a lot of stress around this track. Towards the end we found a better front tyre but then it started to rain a bit so I couldn’t go any faster. Anyway this afternoon was much better and I feel like we have the bike well balanced. The rear tyre feels very good and I’m happy with that, although we still have some issues to sort out with the front. There are some parts of the track where we could be a little bit faster so we need to make a few adjustments to get to the maximum, but anyway 23.0 is not so bad and we’re in second place. Tomorrow it is going to be much hotter apparently but usually our bike works well in the heat so I am quite confident about this.” Colin Edwards Position: 8th Time: 1’23.613 Laps: 55 laps “I was half a second quicker this afternoon but somehow ended up twice as far down the order! Despite that though we improved a lot this afternoon and I definitely felt like I could have gone a bit faster at the end, but I slowed up a bit as I came pretty close to Hayden after he blew up. The team have worked hard as usual and we’ve played around with some suspension stuff that seems to be working well. We’ve got various different tyre constructions to work through with Michelin and it seems like we’ve got some promising options in our selection. Tomorrow is just going to be a case of seeing what works best and fine tuning the setting before we put it on the front row!” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “With Valentino we were able to make some good improvements from when we started out this morning and we’ve found several different tyres that we think might work for the race. Also with Colin we’ve found a good setting for him which he feels quite comfortable with and he has a good balance on his bike. Of course we’ve got more work to do on tyres and settings for both riders; it’s work in progress but we’ve made a good start. Luckily it’s stayed dry almost all day so we’ve been able to get a lot of work done. Tomorrow it should be even warmer so some things might change; we’ll see how it goes!” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: Steady start in close practice session for KONICA MINOLTA Honda Shinya Nakano and his KONICA MINOLTA Honda made a steady start in today’s closely-fought combined practice sessions for Sunday’s German MotoGP race. Morning practice was hit once more by rain, which has been the hallmark of the 2007 season so far. Eventually conditions improved but Shinya suffered from a lack of feedback from the front-end of his RC212V. In the afternoon some improvements were made and Shinya slashed 1.3 seconds from his time, obtaining 17th place in the combined free practice time. Once more the combined times were close with less than one second covering 3rd to 17th positions. Now the Team are confident they can improve things further in time for the important qualifying hour tomorrow afternoon. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “At the start today it was not so easy for Shinya, but by second practice the situation was much better and his lap time improved considerably. We need to improve again tomorrow maybe by as much as one second, maybe more. The important point is that Shinya needs more speed in the middle of the corner and he can’t hold the line through the corner that he wants to and this is where he’s losing time. We will be working hard to improve things for him tomorrow. For the race, tyres and how they last will be very important, as there’s a series of six, left-hand turns that could degrade the tyres considerably over the course of the race. This will make it a very interesting race for the fans!” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (55 laps 1′ 24.208″) “It has been very close today! The morning session was very difficult, but we changed our front geometry setting and I got better feeling from the front-end of the bike in the afternoon. I improved a lot in time, but then so did everybody else! The balance of the bike is OK but I want a little more stability under braking and I am still running a little wide in the corners, but I’m sure we will improve. I enjoy the track and have had some good results here so I’m confident.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “So this morning we started with not so good weather conditions again as it was raining a little in practice and also the temperature was not as high as we expected. We did some work on our machine but basically the feedback from Shinya was that he didn’t feel that the bike was very stable at the front-end. We changed the geometry settings this afternoon as well as suspension settings and things were much better. If we look at the times we just need to cut around half-a-second to be in the middle part of the group. If we can achieve this, we’re not so bad for the race so we will do our best to make this improvement. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be warmer than today but not so stable. We have no problem with tyre choices so we just need to make some small modifications to the machine settings to make Shinya run his lap times a little more consistently.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: MELANDRI SETS SECOND ROW PACE AT SACHSENRING The tenth round of the season started in positive fashion for Marco Melandri, who set the sixth fastest time on the first day of action at the German Grand Prix. After lapping fifth fastest in the morning, in the afternoon Melandri was just six tenths off the time of pacesetter Casey Stoner, the Gresini Honda rider sealing a place on the theoretical second row. The Italian star is confident of another top race at a circuit where he has celebrated victory in both the 125 and 250 classes and was second in the MotoGP race last year after a memorable duel with Rossi and Hayden. It was a good start to the weekend too for Michel Fabrizio, 22, making his debut on the RC212V. Michel, who is replacing Toni Elias for the German round, got to know his new machine around this circuit and is confident of improving his pace on it tomorrow. MARCO MELANDRI (6th, 1′ 23″430): “I’m happy with this first day – we’ve had a couple of good sessions. I’d like to say thank you to Honda for the new exhaust. We’ve taken a big step forward with it – the throttle connection is much more smooth and the feeling under braking has also improved. It is better on the entrance and exit of the corners and lap after lap I felt more and more comfortable. We’re also in good shape with the tyres so I’m satisfied today.” MICHEL FABRIZIO (18th, 1’24″748): “This is an important experience for me. The bike is fun to ride and from the morning to the afternoon I improved my lap time by eight tenths. Hopefully I can improve a lot more tomorrow and for the race. I’m happy because this is a really nice opportunity for me and I want to say thank you to Fausto and to Honda”. FAUSTO GRESINI: “Thanks to the new material that Honda have brought for us here at Sachsenring we’ve been able to make a big step up in quality. The team are doing everything they can to put our rider in a position to fight for the best possible result. Today Marco had a good day of practice and that gives us high hopes for the race. For Michel this is his first contact with the 800cc bike and the Bridgestone tyres and I’m happy to be able to give him this chance.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: STEADY START FOR KAWASAKI AT GERMAN GRAND PRIX The 10th MotoGP weekend of the season got underway today with the first of three free practice sessions at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. Kawasaki Racing Team riders, Randy de Puniet and Anthony West, both made valuable inroads in to finding set ups suitable for the twisty, undulating track, ready for tomorrow’s qualifying session. In the morning’s first practice, de Puniet went well but crashed early on, just under the Audi bridge at turn seven: a fast, uphill left hander. However, he was unhurt and returned to the pits to mount his second bike. He soon picked up the pace again and continued to make steady progress in the later afternoon session as well, despite a brief trip through the gravel after overshooting turn one. And he was not alone: the day saw Barros, Hopkins and Hayden either crashing out or leaving the track for one reason or another as they adapted to the highly technical and tight track on the new, 800cc bikes. De Puniet completed the day’s sessions in 10th place on combined times, with a best lap of 1’23.667, less than a second off leading man, Casey Stoner. Indeed, all of today’s fastest 12 riders are within a second of the young Australian’s time. Disappointed after an off at the recent Dutch Grand Prix, De Puniet hopes to add to his championship points tally this weekend and his speeds today clearly showed that’s a strong possibility. West finished the sessions in 15th position on combined times, having made a continuous effort throughout both the allocated hours and remaining within the top ten for by far the majority of the time. His best run was in the second session, with a time of 1’24.106, just ahead of current world champion, Nicky Hayden. Looking for improvement at every round, West, now in to his third MotoGP race weekend on the 800cc Ninja ZX-RR, ideally aims to beat the ninth place he achieved two weeks ago at Assen. A keen crowd watched the action on track throughout the day, which bodes well for an excellent turn out for the race, especially if the weather holds. And the 3.671km circuit is a fantastic track for spectators with endless twists, turns, uphills and downhills; dark, wooded hills to one side and a frenetic camp site full of race-mad motorcyclists to the other! It promises to be a good weekend”¦ Randy De Puniet #14 10th Best Lap 1’23.667 “The first part of the session was good. I was in the top three and was happy with my settings and tyres: I’m sure I could have kept improving my lap times. However, when we tried a new rear tyre I started to get a lot of problems with chatter, so now we need to check if it’s a problem with the suspension settings or the rear tyre itself. In general the bike is not bad at all, we just need to fix the chatter problem and I’ve no doubt we can do that tomorrow, ready for qualifying.” Anthony West #13 15th Best Lap 1’24.106 “We’ve had a few problems with a bit of chatter in the bike: in some sections I’m really fast and in others I’m losing a lot of time, so we’ve got to put it all together and find a good set up. Today hasn’t gone too badly and we played around with the tyres a bit. I know a lot of places where I can improve so tomorrow should be good. And we’ll see what the weather does because if it gets really hot it’s going to change things with the tyres. I’m happy with the way things went, overall. The time gap between me and Casey is only 1.3 seconds: lower than it was at Assen or Donington, so we’re getting closer”¦ ” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Today, step by step, we’ve tried to use a harder tyre option and it seems that’s working better. We’re getting improved stability and traction and, as for tyre life, we aren’t worried at the moment because tomorrow’s weather is meant to be much hotter, so it really needs to be sorted out then. We also got plenty of information regarding the general set up of the machines and to understand where we need to improve. We tried some suspension adjustments but, by the end, Randy still had some problems that stopped him riding as he’d like, so we’ll look in to what we can do for practice tomorrow.”