2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Mugello, Italy June 2, 2007 Qualifying Results (wet conditions): 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:00.359 2. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 2:01.381 3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 2:01.695 4. Olivier JACQUE (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 2:01.709 5. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:01.797 6. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 2:02.001 7. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 2:02.443 8. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 2:02.776 9. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 2:02.932 10. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:03.025 11. Alex HOFMANN (Ducati), Bridgestone, 2:03.920 12. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 2:04.185 13. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 2:04.353 14. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 2:04.971 15. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 2:05.592 16. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 2:06.254 17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 2:06.426 18. Kenny Lee ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 2:06.660 19. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 2:07.571 Not qualified (Out 107%): 2:08.784 20. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 2:09.080 “Because of the exceptional weather conditions, Race Direction decided to admit all non-qualified riders to the race,” according to Dorna. More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Australian 1-2 as Ducati’s Stoner beats Vermeulen to Mugello pole Round 06 Italy – Qualifying Mugello, Italy Saturday 2 June 2007 Bridgestone-shod Australian riders Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen have taken pole and second position in this afternoon’s unpredictable qualifying with a mixture of wet, damp and drying conditions. Stoner’s best lap was one second clear of Vermeulen after another outstanding run from the current championship leader to claim his and Bridgestone’s first pole position of the 2007 season. Riders on Bridgestone tyres dominated the hour-long session demonstrating the competitive level of performance from Bridgestone’s latest range of wet weather tyres on a full wet and damp-drying track. Both Kawasaki riders put in sensational flying laps late in the session to claim their best grid positions of the season with Olivier Jacque in fourth and compatriot Randy de Puniet in seventh. Sandwiched between the Frenchmen were Italians Loris Capirossi and Marco Melandri who will start their home GP alongside Jacque on the second row from fifth and sixth positions respectively. Suzuki’s John Hopkins finished the hectic session in ninth place to continue his run of top ten grid slots this season. Rounding out the top ten was Pramac d’Antin’s Alex Barros who slotted into tenth place just ahead of his German team-mate Alex Hofmann who will start his 100th GP from eleventh tomorrow afternoon. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How would you assess today’s results in the dry and wet sessions? “Similar to yesterday we had another day divided into a dry morning and a wet afternoon which really interrupted the qualifying session. The morning practice was held in slightly warmer conditions than yesterday morning and we used the opportunity to evaluate different specification tyres to those we used on Friday, also including harder specifications. It was a productive session which allowed each of our teams to get a better understanding of the most suitable tyres for tomorrow’s race.” Did the wet weather tyres give the expected level of performance? “We used a variety of our latest generation wet tyres in the qualifying session including soft and medium wets, both of which worked really well whether in the heavier wet or damp-drying conditions. Casey and Chris set their best times comparatively early in the session and were able to take first and second positions. Well done to both of them for these performances, especially Casey for securing his debut pole position on Bridgestone tyres and the first Bridgestone-shod pole of the 2007 season. Qualifying is usually not so important at Mugello because it is a track which encourages passing moves, but to have two Bridgestone riders at front and a further six in the top ten is a really positive and pleasing result for us.” Riding Perspective Casey Stoner Ducati Corse Pole Position “We really didn’t know what the qualifying session was going to do whether it would continue raining or dry up. After my best lap, I came back in and it seemed to be drying up, so I had the intention of waiting until the final ten minutes or so and then going back out. I just started to get ready and it began to pour down so I just crossed my fingers that it would continue. Towards the end conditions were just about there to beat that sort of lap time but luckily we held on and got the pole. In Le Mans I hadn’t really had enough time with the Ducati and Bridgestones in the wet conditions so this weekend has been good for us. We have learned a little bit more about getting the bike and tyres to work together in these conditions. We have tried a few different rear wets with Bridgestone this weekend and have definitely made good improvements, so now we have more confidence in the wet and we are pretty happy.” Bridgestone Qualifying Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Best Lap Gap POLE Casey Stoner Ducati 2m00.359s Fastest P2 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 2m01.381s +1.022s P4 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki 2m01.709s +1.350s P5 Loris Capirossi Ducati 2m01.797s +1.438s P6 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 2m02.001s +1.642s P7 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 2m02.443s +2.084s P9 John Hopkins Suzuki 2m02.932s +2.573s P10 Alex Barros Pramac D’Antin 2m03.025s +2.666s P11 Alex Hofmann Pramac D’Antin 2m03.920s +3.561s P15 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 2m05.592s +5.233s Weather: Wet Air 19°C, Track 22°C, Humidity 40% More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI SALVAGES FRONT-ROW START FROM SOAKING QUALIFYING IN MUGELLO Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will launch his quest for a sixth consecutive home victory from the front row for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, having kept his cool during a rain-battered Qualifying session to take the third grid spot. Despite some improvements to his race-pace during this morning’s dry practice session, his team-mate Colin Edwards continued his unhappy relationship with Mugello this afternoon and could only manage a lowly 16th. A torrential rainstorm during the preceding 125cc session meant the MotoGP Qualifying got underway with riders on wet-weather tyres, although the track began to dry quickly with the help of a strong wind and lap times soon improved accordingly. As they approached the half way point the heavens opened again and the riders were forced to take shelter in the pits until the storm abated. Luckily it was short-lived and Rossi, who was currently sitting in eight position, got back out as quickly as possible and set about making the most of the remaining ten minutes. On full wet-weather tyres the Italian put in a consistent run of laps, getting faster and faster as the track began to dry out and clocking his best time of 2’01.695 on his penultimate lap, just 0.3 seconds than last week’s race winner Chris Vermeulen. Pole position went to series-leader Casey Stoner, who put in a lap of 2’00.359 just before the storm when the track was at its driest. Edwards continued to struggle throughout the session and 16th place will see him head the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow’s 23-lap race, which gets underway at 1400 local time. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: 2’01.695 Laps: 20 “I’m very happy about this front row because today was really a bit of a ‘casino’ with the weather and I think anything could have happened! We started off with wet tyres and actually everything felt quite good, then it began to dry out very quickly because of the wind. I was actually a bit unlucky because I put a harder rear in to try to do a faster lap on the drying track just as it began to rain again in the middle of the session. I was in eighth place and as soon as it stopped raining again I knew I had to get out and try to improve my time. With full wets the bike worked very well and I was able to keep on doing faster and faster laps as the track dried out. We found a good tyre for the rain and actually it seems here we’re okay in the wet and the dry. Anyway I really hope it’s dry tomorrow, for the riders but especially for all the fans who are camping on the hillside. I think in the rain it’s maybe not so much fun! It’s important to be on the front row here, now we wait and see for the weather and hope for a good race – rain or sun!” Colin Edwards Position: 16th Time: 2’06.254 Laps: 20 “Honestly I don’t know what to say, I’ve always been good in the wet but this year it’s just not working out at all. I’m losing everything on the corner entry; it’s basically the same problem as I had in Le Mans. In the wet one or two seconds off the pace can be explained but six seconds? That’s not right and I’m seriously disappointed. It seems I never have any luck at this track. Starting from 16th gives me a massive hill to climb in any conditions but I would definitely prefer it to be dry because I feel like we at least made some steps forward this morning with our dry set-up.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Valentino came out of what was a very difficult session with a great result, it’s really important for him to be starting from the front row for his home race. I think he and his team did a brilliant job once they found him down in eighth place when it rained. He did well to stay out there and keep pushing on a drying track with wet tyres and he deserves to be on the front row. Colin still has some difficulties in the wet and now we will work hard to try to fix them and make him happier in these conditions. We’re hoping for a dry race now, it will be better for everyone!” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team experiences changeable weather in Italy The changeable weather conditions played havoc once more with the timed sessions at the Italian GP today. Rain fell before the MotoGP qualifying hour was due to start, only for the sunshine to come out during the session and dry the 3.2 mile circuit. Then with half of the session left and just as the conditions were ready for dry tyres the heavens opened once more. After this five-minute shower, the sun came out again and conditions improved slowly so that some riders were able to improve their positions in the last minutes of the session. Shinya will start the race from 12th position, third highest Michelin runner and first of the satellite Hondas. Similar weather is predicted for tomorrow. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today was a very exciting qualifying as the weather was very changeable and it was not easy for the riders in these conditions. Obviously we would have wanted a better position, but then when it is half-wet and half-dry it is very easy to crash! I think Shinya’s result has some positive points for us as we are the third Michelin rider behind Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa and we are the first Honda satellite team. Conditions will be important tomorrow as if it is dry no-one has had a lot of dry set-up time. We need to discuss our team tactics tonight and have them in place if the weather changes during the race itself. I think Shinya’s feeling with the bike in wet and dry is coming better and better and even if we get away in the middle group, Mugello’s layout is such that it is easy to overtake people.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (44 laps 2′ 04.185″) “Rain, sunshine, rain, sunshine! Very strange weather today! I think if it had not rained in the middle of the qualifying session the end would have been completely dry. When it rained we came into the pits and waited for a while to see what the weather was going to do. As it dried towards the end of the timed session I tried a medium compound wet weather Michelin and made my best lap with this tyre. The conditions do make it difficult to choose the correct compound wet tyre, but I do have a good feeling on a half-wet, half-dry track and we did find a good dry tyre in the morning, so I’m confident in both these conditions. The only conditions you don’t want here are monsoon or full-wet conditions as it’s a high-speed circuit and the rear will spin on these GP machines even down the straight in the high gears!” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today was very busy for us thanks to the changing weather conditions! With the weather changing every five minutes it was difficult to decide when to make a timed attack. It’s normal to use the softest tyre at the end of a session but in these conditions this was not possible, so we used a medium compound wet tyre which maybe was a good choice but Shinya only had time for one lap on it. If we had three or four more minutes I think we could have improved. We are satisfied that the setting on the bike is coming better and the feeling is pretty good in the wet. Also, in the morning we tested in dry conditions and we have finalised our set-up and tyre choice for a dry race, also. The weather is supposed to be worse tomorrow than today but the situation will remain changeable.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Wetter is better for storming Stoner at Mugello Gran Premio d’Italia Alice – Saturday 2nd June Report Day 2 Stoner takes first pole of 2007 motogp Torrential rain 25 minutes from the end of the MotoGP qualifying session aided Casey Stoner as he took his first MotoGP pole since he joined Ducati, at the Italian factory’s home track. The Australian has been the winner of three races so far in 2007, and will be encouraged by both his recent form and his ride in the wet at Le Mans two weeks ago as he attempts win number four tomorrow. Stoner’s time of 2’00.359 was over a second faster than his compatriot Chris Vermuelen, who lines up on the front row in his best qualifying performance of the year. The first line of attack seemed set to involve all three Le Mans podium finishers, but a late surge from Valentino Rossi pushed Marco Melandri out of third position and elevated the winner of the last five races at Mugello to a vital starting place. Rossi, who is using a heart motif on his helmet for this weekend’s race, didn’t miss a beat when the track became dry enough to allow a push for improvement. A last 5 minutes in which the seemingly confirmed grid experienced some significant changes allowed a number of riders to make the most of their wet qualifiers, with a shake-up for the top ten. Kawasaki’s Olivier Jacque showed that he was back in shape after missing two races through injury, qualifying fourth for what may be his first wet race since the amazing second place in China back in 2005. The Frenchman lines up alongside fellow veteran and home favourite Loris Capirossi at one of the Italian’s favourite tracks, Capirossi is himself joined by countryman Melandri on row two. Randy de Puniet put the second Kawasaki bike in the top seven with a final push, ahead of yesterday’s fastest rider Dani Pedrosa, Suzuki man John Hopkins and former Mugello wet weather winner Alex Barros. 250cc Having been on the 250cc podium three times in his rookie season, reigning 125cc World Champion Alvaro Bautista took his first pole in the quarter litre class with a 1’57.435 lap of the Mugello circuit. The Spaniard has never won on Italian soil, but will have as good a chance tomorrow as he will get after topping the timesheets in another drenched qualifying session. The Aspar team rider starts a mixed front row, alongside home rider Andrea Dovizioso at what will be a great chance for the Italian to cut the gap on current leader Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo was hindered immensely by the rain, unable to put in a lap faster than the 107% qualification cut-off line. He will be permitted to enter tomorrow’s race, but will have to pull something no less than amazing to pull victory number four out of the bag. The front row is completed by Shuhei Aoyama and Thomas Luthi, the former achieving his first ever top four qualifying position. Luthi has been impressive at the beginning of his rookie year, and will be in contention for a maiden podium if he can pick up a good pace tomorrow. Yesterday’s fastest rider Alex de Angelis dropped down to the second row, ahead of Hector Barbera and the KTM duo of Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama. Wet weather specialist Anthony West and Julian Simon completed the top ten. 125cc The inopportune first shower of the day made things difficult for the 125cc riders, who were almost forced to ride in the wet if they were to qualify for tomorrow’s race. With only ten riders inside the 107% cut-off point at the end of yesterday’s session, the entire grid decided to brave the conditions to attempt to put their names in the hat for the Sunday showdown. However, the top two positions on tomorrow’s grid will be occupied by riders who set their quickest lap in the opening session. On pole for the second time this season, Hector Faubel is the rider who profited most from the weather, seven tenths ahead of Team Scot rider Mike di Meglio. The duo will be joined on the front row by Gabor Talmacsi and Dino Lombardi, both a whopping three seconds off Faubel’s pole winning time of 2’15.309. Tomoyoshi Koyama, Raffaele de Rosa and Iannone line up alongside World Championship leader Lukas Pesek on the second row, with the Czech rider another to qualify with his Friday time. Alongside a number of wild card entries, those still technically unable to qualify included British rider Danny Webb, home riders Federico Sandi, Simone Grotzkyj, Roberto Tamburini and Stefano Bianco, American rookie Stevie Bonsey and Hugo van den Berg. After a decision from Race Direction however, all those on the entry list will be able to compete tomorrow. The second Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup was another action packed affair, with the 14 laps undertaken by the youngsters providing no end of thrills and spills. Learning their craft in tricky conditions, the second race of the new series came down to a two rider battle between Johann Zarco and winner of the opening round Lorenzo Savadori. The latter closed down his rival and set about making his move on the final lap, but poleman Zarco held out for victory despite some home straight slipstreaming. He then pulled his bike up alongside a trackside wall to pull an acrobatic back somersault to celebrate. There were crashes for Luis Salom and Cameron Beaubier, the latter repeating his race-leading crash from Jerez with seven laps to go. The next round of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup takes place at Donington Park on June 23rd. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI QUALIFIERS REAP THE REWARDS AFTER HEAVY RAIN AT MUGELLO Kawasaki Racing Team riders, Olivier Jacque and Randy de Puniet, will start tomorrow’s Grand Premio d’Italia Alice from the front of the second and third rows of the grid, respectively. After a session during which the weather was as changeable as the leader board, both riders have been rewarded for their tactical riding as track conditions veered between dry and drenched. After an initial downpour at the scenic Mugello circuit, the qualifying session began with slower laps as riders bade their time while the track dried. But both Randy and Olivier used the time wisely, putting in early fast laps, which paid off when the clouds opened, yet again, and racers were forced back in to the pits to await the passing of the deluge. By the time the track had started to dry again, many of the field were unable to improve on their earlier times, with only a fraction of the session remaining, leaving the Kawasaki men comfortably within the top ten. However, rather than resting on their laurels, both were still able to improve on their earlier attempts, each one running their best time on their final laps. Jacque, returning to the fray having missed the race at Le Mans due to injury, laid claim to fourth place on the grid: the highest qualifying position yet for the 800cc Ninja ZX-RR. With both bikes running the new Kawasaki engine, the team have liberated even more power at the top end and this was reflected in their performance today. With a final time of 2’01.709, Jacque, a former 250cc world champion, is 1.350 seconds behind leading man, Casey Stoner, and just 0.014 seconds behind Valentino Rossi. De Puniet’s qualifying session resulted in a seventh place on the grid: far stronger than the 14th position he achieved in Italy last year. The 26-year-old Frenchman enjoys riding the fast, Tuscan circuit and managed a top speed of 304.48 km/h, despite the unpredictable grip on the waterlogged track. Finishing just 0.442 seconds behind Marco Melandri, de Puniet beat Dani Pedrosa to his place on the start line. Both Kawasaki riders are still bearing the scars of injuries sustained at Le Mans and Shanghai. Given wet weather riding puts less physical strain on the upper body than full-on, dry conditions, both were hoping for some rain to level out the playing field in their favour and their prayers were most definitely answered. Tomorrow’s race will, no doubt, prove exciting and exhilarating as fanatical crowds gather at Mugello for what is, historically, one of the most entertaining rounds of the MotoGP season. Further unpredictable weather is forecast and could, again, play in to the hands of the Kawasaki riders. Olivier Jacque 4th – 20 Laps – Best Lap 2’01.709 “That was the most exciting qualifying session of the season so far. Our tactics worked perfectly and I got my best ever grid position in MotoGP. The feeling in the wet was good and we improved the set up both for wet and dry conditions during the course of the day. I have more rear traction and, working with the mapping, we managed to make the engine less aggressive under damp conditions. In the afternoon, we first went out with wet tyres and I took the opportunity to improve my lap times when the track was drying out, just before it started raining again. Our strategy paid off later, too, as we waited until 10 minutes before the end to go out again, this time with intermediate tyres. The track had dried out again and I almost got a first row spot. I must thank my crew as today everything worked perfectly. Physically, I felt on good form in the wet and even this morning was better than yesterday. My arm is not painful anymore, although I can still feel a lack of strength in the dry. The weather is quite unstable and, at the moment, we’re not sure what it’s going to be like for the race. Personally, I’d prefer a wet race, even though the conditions are trickier, as it’s less demanding physically and I enjoy it.” Randy De Puniet 7th 21 Laps Best Lap 2’02.443 “I’m really disappointed about how the qualifying session ended. We did a good job throughout the day, improving both the dry and the wet set up, and I was among the fastest riders for most of the qualifying session. But I got confused at the end when I saw on my pit board that there was one minute left. I pushed as much as I could and I improved my lap time. What I didn’t know was that I just crossed the line with a couple of seconds left and, considering the track was drier and my bike was feeling fantastic, I’m sure I could have got a second or even a first row place”¦ Today, my injury felt much better and I don’t think I’ll have any problems in tomorrow’s race, even if it’s dry. The target is to finish among the first eight, though this circuit has plenty of overtaking points and anything can happen if it rains.” Ichirio Yoda Kawasaki Racing Director “I’m really satisfied with Olivier’s performance as, even though he is not fully fit, he’s made a big effort and got a good qualifying position for tomorrow’s race, which is really important. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about Randy. He was improving his lap times, and he still had another chance, but he missed it. He needs to concentrate and if he has a chance, he must go for it. We are really satisfied with the Ninja’s ZX-RR performance and the new engine is definitely a step forward, even if the set up still needs to be refined. We will see how the weather turns out tomorrow but the target is for both riders to finish in the top eight. It may be difficult if it’s a dry race but, if it rains, we have shown that we can be up there.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM’S STONER ON MUGELLO POLE, CAPIROSSI ON SECOND ROW Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner scored a superb pole position in tricky wet and dry conditions at Mugello this afternoon while Loris Capirossi also performed brilliantly to claim a strong second-row start. Stoner took his first pole of the year with a full second’s advantage over his nearest rival. The Australian and his Italian team-mate also performed well in earlier dry sessions, setting the third and fourth fastest dry laps of the weekend this morning, Capirossi just 0.031 behind his team-mate. Torrential rain hit Mugello at lunchtime, so riders commenced qualifying on a wet track using rain tyres. The circuit began to dry but before riders could switch to slick tyres a second storm arrived. Stoner had timed his push to perfection, so he was already fastest when the heavens opened for the second time with 25 minutes to go. Bridgestone dominated the session, filling six of the first seven grid positions. CASEY STONER, pole position, 2m 00.359s “At the start of qualifying we were going round and doing some pretty good lap times and it seemed to be getting drier and drier, so I decided to come in and wait it out. I had been in the garage for two minutes when it started to pour so we waited that out, then when we saw it getting drier so we went out for a couple more laps. No one managed to go quicker than my time during those last few laps but I still man to go quicker than everyone else in those conditions, so that’s pretty good. It’s been really confusing this weekend. This morning wasn’t really dry, there were a few wet patches but you could petty much ride it like a dry session, so we’ve been able to make our settings from that. We’ve got a good enough dry set-up for now and I think we can improve in morning warm-up. I’ve heard all sorts of forecasts for the race and I’m not going to believe one of them till I see what’s happening tomorrow.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 5th fastest, 2m 01.797s “I’m a little disappointed with my final lap time which is due to the strange and difficult conditions – the weather made qualifying a bit of a lottery. Otherwise I’m pretty happy – in both today’s sessions I used the new spec engine and we’ve worked well on this spec, even if we have only just started to understand how to set it up. We also worked a lot on the chassis and I’ve found a better feeling in that area too. I will race the new engine because it’s more rider-friendly, even though it’s a few horsepower down. I want to heartily thank Ducati for what they’ve done for me because they’ve prepared the new spec in a very short time. We still have to work on it, but I feel are going in the right direction. I’m confident for tomorrow – rain or shine I think I can fight up front”. More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Front row start for Vermeulen at the Italian GP Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix from second place on the grid, as he showed his wet weather skills once more at a damp Mugello circuit. Vermeulen (2’01.381, 16 laps) got to grips with the treacherous conditions early on and topped the leaderboard for large parts of the hour-long session. The Italian track again looked more like the canals of Venice as heavy rain started to fall just before the riders went out to start qualifying. The conditions were made even more difficult as the rain gave way to bright sunshine and strong winds that dried the surface very quickly. Vermeulen will be making his first front row start of the season as he continues with the good form he showed in the rain at Le Mans. His time was only bettered by Casey Stoner on the Bridgestone-shod Ducati. John Hopkins was again very fast in this morning’s dry final free practice session, as he posted the seventh quickest time and looked very consistent throughout. In the difficult afternoon conditions he couldn’t quite reproduce his fantastic wet weather performance of yesterday. Suzuki’s Anglo-American star will start from the third row as he recorded the ninth fastest time of the session during his 18 laps. Sunday’s race is round six of the MotoGP World Championship and the 23-lap race gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT), where Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will be joined on the grid by the Rizla ‘Paper Control’ girls who will also be on patrol in the paddock all day! Chris Vermeulen: “The session started out in pouring rain, but with the wind it dried up quite quick. I came in with 25 minutes to go and said I needed to put on a slick tyre as there was a lot of grip, and then it started raining again! I thought it would dry out a bit more than it did at the end, but it didn’t. I tried to go a bit quicker for the last few laps, but my timing wasn’t right and I missed out on another full lap. The Bridgestone wet tyres worked well again and being on the front row gives me a good chance in the race, whatever the conditions may be.” John Hopkins: “We made a great start to our programme yesterday and followed that up this morning – we had a clear idea of where we needed to be for this afternoon. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to make the improvements as the rain came down again. I am not happy to be ninth, but considering what a lottery it was at the end I am quite satisfied to be on the third row as it was easy to crash out there! I am confident I can get a good start tomorrow and be running near the front come rain or shine!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Not an easy qualifying session for everybody concerned. It was difficult to get the timing exactly right and to have the best tyres in the bike for the conditions. The track was constantly changing from flooded, to a clear dry line, and it made it almost a guessing game. “Chris was flying and made sure that he used his wet weather skills to the full. It was another great result for him. It gives him a fantastic opportunity to capitalise in the race whatever the conditions. “John is disappointed with ninth, but he dug in and he gets away from the line as well as anyone. I’m sure he will be looking to take big steps forward in the race tomorrow, he has the ability to get a good result here.” More, from a press release issued by Team Roberts: DOUBLE-STRENGTH ROBERTS TEAM LEARNS WET LESSONS Mugello, Italy – June 2, 2007: Kenny Roberts Jr. and his younger brother Kurtis qualified 18th and 19th for tomorrow’s Italian GP, in a wet final qualifying session where the bad weather of the previous afternoon continued. Atrocious conditions marred both days of practice, with only one dry session, on Friday morning. Come what may, it was grist to the mill to the two brothers and the team, in the quest to gather data that will help bring the new 2007 Honda-powered KR hybrid to the competitive form it enjoyed last year. Kenny Jr. has been the team’s sole rider, last year and this. Kurtis was brought in for this race to help with machine development. The younger Roberts, who last raced in MotoGP for the same team in 2005, has been racing in the AMA Superbike class at home in the USA. Pole position at the spectacular 5.245km Mugello circuit, in the hills outside Florence, went to title leader Casey Stoner (Ducati). In the conditions, his time of 2’00/359 was more than 12 seconds slower than the circuit’s previous best lap. KENNY ROBERTS Jr. – 18th position, 2’06.660 As I was saying from mid-season last year, we’ve needed two riders, but for some reason we were prohibited, and we’re paying for that now. With Kurtis on the second bike, right away he was able to help, so I’m only having to work 50 percent as hard and we’re getting double the input. In the rain when I was on soft tyres, Kurtis actually passed me and took off, and was doing quite good times compared to the other Hondas. So he’s able to give good feedback. Our situation is a reflection of the tyre rule and not having enough feedback to the engineers, so it’s good to have Kurtis here. KURTIS ROBERTS – 19th position, 2’07.571 It’s been a strange weekend to come back, just because the weather is changing so much. It’s kind of hard to get used to everything with it dry and wet. Maybe after three days of this it’ll be easier, because we will have been through all the weather scenarios we could with this bike. But it’s been fun, and interesting. And it’s moving forward, I think, though it’s hard just to jump onto something like this and be right up front. It’s not like a Superbike. I think if we’d been out this session on the right tyres at the right time we might have been further up the field. At the same time, you can’t put too much pressure on when it’s your first race back, on a Honda-powered 800 you’ve never ridden before. My last ride was at the end of 2005 on the five-cylinder 990 Proton. This bike is a lot different – more than I expected. It doesn’t have nearly the torque that the old bikes did. It feels like a 250 almost, because you’re carrying so much corner speed. It’s something to get used to for me. CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager I think probably this weekend, even with the bad weather, we’ve probably learned more than we have in all the races combined. Kurtis is adding another voice to the debriefs, pretty much matching Kenny’s comments. The object is to try and make the bike better. We’ve always said we need two riders to back things up and give us a better perspective, and from that side it’s really helped. The weather hasn’t helped, though. We’ve had only one dry session, basically, and from that we had a lot of things we wanted to change for the next one, but obviously it was raining. Kurtis is here for two races. Then after each race we need to analyse where we are, and make decisions from race to race. To continue running two riders, engine mileage is the problem. But we have to thank Honda for giving us the chance to do this, even though it’s not ideal working round a two-rider programme with equipment for one rider. More, from a press release issued by Honda: More, from a press release issued by Honda: WET WEATHER PLAYS HAVOC WITH QUALIFYING IN ITALY The MotoGP grid was almost washed out here at a sopping wet Mugello, but in semi-wet and then tough, slippery conditions it was Casey Stoner (Ducati) who took his first pole position of the season, with Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) qualifying second fastest and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) completing the front row. As the hour long MotoGP qualifying session got underway the track was still damp after a thorough downpour earlier and riders emerged on wet tyres to cope with the soaking track. The early pacesetters were Stoner, Vermeulen and home rider Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V). The track began to dry as the sun emerged, then halfway through the hour the heavens opened again to further compromise grip levels at this tricky 5.254km track. With water cascading across the difficult cambers of this roller-coaster circuit, staying on was as hard as setting a lap time decent enough for the front row. And Stoner was the only man to dip below the two-minute mark today. The Australian was in command on his Ducati and his time of 2m 00.359s is more than a full second quicker than Vermeulen’s best effort of 2m 01.381s. And that is dominance of a considerable nature in any terms. The best of the Honda runners was Melandri who ended the hour as sixth fastest man to start tomorrow’s 23-lap encounter on row two. His grid position is respectable enough to offer him hope – in wet or dry conditions. Marco was riding with two knee sliders on each leg to cope with the grim conditions. The Italian is three-quarters of a second quicker than Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) who was fastest in the morning free practice session and in the dry conditions yesterday. However, in the wet Pedrosa slid down the order before rallying again in the dying minutes as the rain ruined his day. As the conditions were in such a state of flux, choosing the correct tyres proved hard. As the track dried for the second time in the hour at the end of the session, but some riders managed to shave vital tenths of a second off their best times to creep up the order. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) starts from fourth on the grid tomorrow – his best qualifying effort for the team yet, while Stoner’s team-mate Loris Capirossi hauled himself up to fifth fastest although the veteran Italian was well short of his younger team-mate’s pace. Dani has to be satisfied with eighth on the grid and although it is not what he might have wanted he will be happier than his team-mate and reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) who will start from 13th. Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda RC212V) will be ahead of the American champion in 12th spot. Carlos Checa (LCR Honda RC212V) starts from 14th on row five after swapping bikes mid-session and Toni Elias (Gresini Honda RC212V) will line up alongside him as 15th. Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR212V) managed 18th and his brother Kurtis on the second Roberts machine qualified 19th. Best Honda qualifier Marco, in sixth, said, “That was a very difficult session, every lap felt like it was a different track, but it was a fun session at times. I’m very happy with the bike set-up I used today, we found some good settings for the wet after the race at Le Mans, but that is the same for all of us. We are also close in dry conditions. We will wait and see what weather the warm up brings us – but wet or dry I will be ready.” Dani Pedrosa, in eighth, said, “In the dry I think we have a good pace and it would have been nice to have had some more time this afternoon to work on the dry set-up and tyre choice. Qualifying was really difficult because we had heavy rain and then it stopped completely. The track condition was changing on every lap and we never knew exactly which tyres to fit. It was always a bit of a gamble to be on the track at the right time on the right tyres. And then it rained again. I was able to improve my lap time a little towards the end of the session but it wasn’t enough to get to the front row so I am a little disappointed with the qualifying position.” “The conditions were fairly crazy this afternoon,” said Nicky, 13th fastest man. “One minute the sun was out, the next minute it was raining, then the sun was out again – I just couldn’t believe it. And my grid position pretty well sucks. When it was fully wet I felt pretty good but when a dry line starts to appear I really struggle and I think it’s something I’ve got to improve on a lot. We’ve put ourselves in a hole for tomorrow so I’ll be looking to get an awesome start, get a good first couple of laps and try to pick off as many guys as possible.” Shinya Nakano in 12th said, “As it dried towards the end of the timed session I tried a medium compound wet weather Michelin and made my best lap with this tyre. The conditions do make it difficult to choose the correct compound wet tyre, but I do have a good feeling on a half-wet, half-dry track and we did find a good dry tyre in the morning, so I’m confident in both these conditions. You don’t want full-wet conditions here as it’s a high-speed circuit and the rear will spin on these machines even down the straight in the high gears!” Carlos Checa qualified in 14th place and said of his day: “In full wet conditions I feel comfortable, but in the dry we need to improve the set-up. I need a more positive feeling on the corner entry and some more rear stability – the bike feels more difficult to turn. Of course a wet race is a gamble for everyone and depending on the tyre choice and conditions it is difficult to predict. When I was forced to switch bikes I did not have a good feeling in the half-dry conditions, even using a soft tyre right at the end of the session.” “A disastrous day for us,” said Tony Elias in 15th. “We had problems in both the wet and dry conditions, especially in the dry with rear-end chattering and no traction. In the wet session we made no progress and we still have the same problem, I didn’t feel at all comfortable out there. We have to make a good move on set-up changes in the warm-up tomorrow, particularly on tyre choice – and then hope for a good start.” The Roberts brothers were happy by the progress made: “With Kurtis on the second bike, right away he was able to help, so I’m only having to work 50 percent as hard and we’re getting double the input,” said Kenny. “It’s moving forward,” said Kurtis: “Though it’s hard just to jump onto something like this and be right up front. I think if we’d been out in this session on the right tyres at the right time we might have been further up the field.” The 250cc class was affected by the rain too and a fresh downpour towards the end of the session spoiled riders’ late bids for good grid positions – and in some notable cases prevented them from qualifying within the 107% time limit – series points leader Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) among them. It was Spaniard Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) who snatched pole with a lap of 1m 57.435s, with Italian hero Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Honda RS250RW) lining up alongside as second fastest man. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) showed a welcome return to form with his first ever front row qualifying performance as third fastest man. Dovizioso said: “The team had no data for dry conditions but I was very confident with the bike set-up in the wet today. It’s impossible for me to speak about a dry race, I just cannot say if I will have a good rhythm in the dry. With Lorenzo so far back on the grid I cannot say I will be able to put in five fast laps at the start and go away. Lorenzo didn’t qualify and rules are rules and should be respected but in motorcycle racing there is always someway these people manage to start.” Front row debutant Aoyama was surprised to find himself along side Bautista and Dovizioso. The Japanese rider said: “I went out on a rain tyre for the first lap of qualifying but came straight back to fit slicks. When I went out I got into Bautista’s slipstream but could not quite stay with him. Then, after three laps, the rain started and I came into the pit to change tyres. When I saw I had set third fastest time I was very surprised. I was very lucky.” Mike di Meglio (Scot Honda RS125R) made the most of his undoubted ability to notch the second fastest time in the 125cc class. The French ace recorded a best of 2m 16.053s to go faster than Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) in third but behind pole man Hector Faubel (Aprilia). Home hope Dino Lombardi (Scot Honda RS125R) rode a strong session to put himself on the front row for the first time in his so-far brief career. The Italian rider somewhat overshadowed the performance of Britain’s Bradley Smith (Repsol Honda RS125R) who qualified 11th fastest. Alex Masbou (FFM Racing Honda RS125R) qualified 12th. Di Meglio said: “That session was very good, it’s my best Grand Prix qualifying ever. The bike was good today, just a small problem with carburetion, but I felt good in the conditions. I don’t really mind if it’s wet or dry for the race tomorrow. The important thing is to get a good start. If I do that then I will have a good race.” Lombardi was delighted with his best ever qualifying performance. “I don’t understand it – I am very emotional! Starting from the front row at the Italian GP is fantastic.” Said the Scot Honda rider. “When I went out I didn’t run too hard because I wanted to take confidence with the bike in the conditions. But when I saw my signal board with my position I was very happy. I was five seconds faster than yesterday so I am hoping for rain tomorrow.” Smith said: “I’m not so happy with myself with two stupid crashes in two days. Silly mistakes that were partly me pushing too hard and a little bit because of the bike set-up. The weather conditions were changing all the time and there was a lot of water on the track making things quite difficult.” Honda Team riders quotes MotoGP. Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 6th.”That was a very difficult session, every lap felt like it was a different track but it was a fun session at times. I’m very happy with the bike set up I used today, we found some good settings for the wet after the race at Le Mans, but that is the same for all of us. We are also close in dry conditions. We will wait and see what weather the warm up brings us but wet or dry I will be ready.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 8th.”In the dry I think that we have a good pace and it would have been nice to have had some more time this afternoon to work on the dry set-up and tyre choice. Qualifying was really difficult because we had heavy rain and then it stopped completely. The track condition was changing on every lap and we never knew exactly which tyres to fit. It was always a bit of a gamble to be on the track at the right time on the right tyres. And then it rained again. I was able to improve my lap time a little towards the end of the session but it wasn’t enough to get to the front row so I am a little disappointed with the qualifying position. I must get a very good start in the race. I hope the conditions tomorrow are clear one way or the other – either dry or fully wet, rather than half and half like Le Mans two weeks ago. It could be another very interesting race.” Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 12th. “Rain, sunshine, rain, sunshine! Very strange weather today! I think if it had not rained in the middle of the qualifying session the end would have been completely dry. When it rained we came into the pits and waited for a while to see what the weather was going to do. As it dried towards the end of the timed session I tried a medium compound wet weather Michelin and made my best lap with this tyre. The conditions do make it difficult to choose the correct compound wet tyre, but I do have a good feeling on a half-wet, half-dry track and we did find a good dry tyre in the morning, so I’m confident in both these conditions. The only conditions you don’t want here are monsoon or full-wet conditions as it’s a high-speed circuit and the rear will spin on these GP machines even down the straight in the high gears!” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 13th.”The conditions were fairly crazy this afternoon. One minute the sun was out, the next minute it was raining, then the sun was out again – I just couldn’t believe it. And my grid position pretty well sucks. When it was fully wet I felt pretty good but when a dry line starts to appear I really struggle and I think it’s something I’ve got to improve on a lot. We’ve put ourselves in a hole for tomorrow so I’ll be looking to get an awesome start, get a good first couple of laps and try to pick off as many guys as possible. It’s going to be a really tricky race tomorrow even if it is dry because we haven’t had a lot of dry set-up time and there’s a few tyre options I haven’t even tried. So we’ll just see what conditions we get in the warm-up tomorrow and use that time well.” Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 14th.”In full wet conditions I feel comfortable, but in the dry we need to improve the set-up. I need a more positive feeling on the corner entry and some more rear stability, the bike feels more difficult to turn. Of course a wet race is a gamble for everyone and depending on the tyre choice and conditions it is difficult to predict. When I was forced to switch bikes I did not have a good feeling in the half-dry conditions, even using a soft tyre right at the end of the session.” Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 15th.”A disastrous day for us! Today we had problems in both the wet and dry conditions, especially in the dry with rear end chattering and no traction. In the wet session we made no progress and we still have the same problem, I didn’t feel at all comfortable out there. We have to make a good move on set up changes in the warm up tomorrow, particularly on tyre choice – then hope for a good start.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR212V: 18th.As I was saying from mid-season last year, we’ve needed two riders, but for some reason we were prohibited, and we’re paying for that now. With Kurtis on the second bike, right away he was able to help, so I’m only having to work 50 percent as hard and we’re getting double the input. In the rain when I was on soft tyres, Kurtis actually passed me and took off, and was doing quite good times compared to the other Hondas. So he’s able to give good feedback. Our situation is a reflection of the tyre rule and not having enough feedback to the engineers, so it’s good to have Kurtis here. Kurtis Roberts, KR212V: 19th.It’s been a strange weekend to come back, just because the weather is changing so much. It’s kind of hard to get used to everything with it dry and wet. Maybe after three days of this it’ll be easier, because we will have been through all the weather scenarios we could with this bike. But it’s been fun, and interesting. And it’s moving forward, I think, though it’s hard just to jump onto something like this and be right up front. It’s not like a Superbike. I think if we’d been out this session on the right tyres at the right time we might have been further up the field. At the same time, you can’t put too much pressure on when it’s your first race back, on a Honda-powered 800 you’ve never ridden before. My last ride was at the end of 2005 on the five-cylinder 990 Proton. This bike is a lot different – more than I expected. It doesn’t have nearly the torque that the old bikes did. It feels like a 250 almost, because you’re carrying so much corner speed. It’s something to get used to for me. Chuck Aksland – Team Manager Team Roberts. I think probably this weekend, even with the bad weather, we’ve probably learned more than we have in all the races combined. Kurtis is adding another voice to the debriefs, pretty much matching Kenny’s comments. The object is to try and make the bike better. We’ve always said we need two riders to back things up and give us a better perspective, and from that side it’s really helped. The weather hasn’t helped, though. We’ve had only one dry session, basically, and from that we had a lot of things we wanted to change for the next one, but obviously it was still raining. 250cc: Andrea Dovizioso, Kopron Scot Honda: 2nd. “The team has no data for dry conditions but I was very confident with the bike set up in the wet today. It is impossible for me to speak about a dry race, I just cannot say if I will have a good rhythm in the dry. With (Jorge) Lorenzo so far back on the grid I cannot say right now that I will be able to put in five fast laps at the start and go away. Lorenzo didn’t qualify and rules are rules and should be respected its unfair but in motorcycle racing there always someway these people manage to start.” Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “I went out on a rain tyre for the first lap of qualifying but came straight back to fit slicks. When I went out I got into Bautista’s slipstream but could not quite stay with him. Then, after three laps, the rain started and I came into the pit to change tyres. When I saw I had set third fastest time I was very surprised. I was very lucky.” Julian Simon, Repsol Honda: 10th. “It’s been a rather negative second day. The track was dry this morning and wet in the afternoon. We made good use of the time this morning as long as it remained dry and I set the fastest time. But it started to rain immediately after the start in the afternoon and I had no time to improve. I finished tenth, third row of the grid. I will be able to make a good race if the weather improves. If it doesn’t and it is a wet race, I’ll have to learn, because I had a really tough time today under these conditions. Let’s see what happens tomorrow. The team is working very well; I’m very happy and looking forward to making a good race tomorrow.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT-SAG: 19th. “It suddenly began to rain really heavily while I was leaning into a corner and I couldn’t do anything but crash! The session kicked off in wet conditions but under sunny skies. The track was drying out and after switching to slick tyres, I was improving my lap times but it rained really hard when I was pushing and I crashed. Fortunately I’m alright and the bike isn’t too badly damaged. We’ll have to work hard in tomorrow’s warm-up to get ready for the race.” Eugene Laverty, LCR Honda: 21st. “It was terrible day and I still haven’t done enough laps in the dry to properly learn the track. The track was dry at the beginning of the session but then it rained and I lost time changing tyres, and then the rear puncture. I’m hoping for a wet race, that’s my birthday wish.” Yukio Takahashi, Kopron Scot Honda: 27th.”I only did two laps in the qualifying session to record a lap time because I knew that riders with a time of over 107% would be allowed to start. That’s because the 125cc and MotoGP riders who didn’t qualify were allowed to start. I am not completely fit and I didn’t run a race simulation so I don’t know if I can finish the complete race.” 125cc. Mike Di Meglio, Kopron Scot Honda: 2nd. “That session was very good it’s my best GP qualifying ever. The bike was good today, just a small problem with carburation but I felt good in the conditions. I don’t really mind if it’s wet or dry for the race tomorrow the important thing is to get a good start. If I do that then I will have a good race.” Dino Lombardi, Kopron Scot Honda: 4th. “I don’t understand it – I am very emotional! Starting from the front row at the Italian GP is fantastic. When I went out I didn’t run too hard because I wanted to take confidence with the bike in the conditions. But when I saw my signal board with my position I as very happy. I was five seconds faster than yesterday so I am hoping for rain tomorrow.” Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 11th. “I’m not so happy with myself with two stupid crashes in two days. Silly crashes that were partly me pushing too hard and a little bit because of the bike set up. The weather conditions were changing all the time and there was a lot of water on the track making things quite difficult. If its dry tomorrow we have a few small setting changes to make for that weather.” Alexis Masbou, FFM Honda: 12th. “I’m aching all over after crashing and landing on my head. I entered the fast downhill chicane a little too fast and lost the front. I was really groggy! This afternoon I was off the pace at first and couldn’t find a clear lap. Someone got in my way on my last lap and otherwise I could have qualified well. But I’m feeling better and better in the rain. I¹ve got a good feeling at last and yet I don’t really appreciate these conditions, it’s just a case of trying to improve each time I go out on a wet track. Tomorrow¹s race is going to be something of a lottery because the weather forecast announces 40% probability of rain.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 18th. “For the whole of the second qualifying session I stayed out on track. Everybody was riding on Dunlop rain tyres and it was going good. A lot of riders went under the good time I set yesterday. Everything went as it should go because on the wet track I had a very good feeling with the bike. All in all I am happy with 18th place because it is my best qualifying position ever.” Danny Webb, Molenaar Honda: 29th.”I went out to make five fast laps and then come into the pit. Then I caught the slipstream of Pesek which was perfect. I kept with him and rode top split times in the first two sections. But then Pesek ran straight on and as I was on his rear wheel riding ‘Blind’ I followed him over the kerbstone and crashed. Braking fault from Pesek – dumb move by me. When I got back to the pit and found I was outside the 107% qualifying rule I was devastated but then the race direction let all eight of us non-qualified riders start due to the bad conditions we had in both qualifying sessions.” Tito Rabat, Repsol Honda: Will not race due to injuries sustained in a crash at the last grand prix at Le Mans, France. He is hopeful of making a return to the track at Grand Prix of Catalunya next week.