Posted by Administrator on 02-28-2006 at 04:02 am
Milan, Italy
28/2/2006
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| Riders and management |
CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM UNVEILS FINAL LIVERY WITH SPECTACULAR SHOW IN ITALY
With exactly one month to go before the first race of the new MotoGP season, the Camel Yamaha Team today celebrated the start of its 2006 campaign with a Team Presentation in Milan, in front of 300 guests and international media. World Champion Valentino Rossi and his American team-mate Colin Edwards, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday today, were joined on stage by VIP guests from Yamaha and Japan Tobacco International, as well as Italian TV presenter Marco Mazzocchi, who compered the presentation.
The bikes were uncovered by the Festi group of acrobats, who descended from the roof to reveal the M1s of Rossi and Edwards in their final 2006 livery. Mazzocchi then welcomed Masao Furusawa, Executive Officer for Engineering Operations at Yamaha Motor Company and Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl, onto the stage.
“Even though the basic M1 concept for 2006 is the same”, commented Furusawa, “this is a more sophisticated bike, especially with the increasing RPM of the engine. It is very important for the progression of the bike to keep Valentino and Colin together, as they are not just riders for us, but a key part of the development of the M1.”
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| Masao Furusawa |
“Last year we got everything right with this team,” added Jarvis. “The rider combination, the bike and every other element. Now our goal with our new title sponsor Camel is to achieve all this once again and win the championship.”
Roberto Zanni, European Regional President for Japan Tobacco International, spoke about the exciting new partnership between Camel and Yamaha. “The feeling has been very good with Yamaha right from the beginning. Everything is very professional but also very friendly, it’s a good atmosphere. I expect that the passion this year within this team will be very great and with two riders as successful as Valentino and Colin, we can expect great things.”
Davide Brivio, the Team Director for the Yamaha Factory Team for the fifth year running, then took to the stage to talk about his goals for the season. “I think that everybody will really like the new livery, and especially the riders’ numbers on the white squares. We needed to come up with something original for the livery without moving away from the Camel yellow, which we all really like, and now I think this final livery is going to look really spectacular on track. For the season, we’re ready! We’ve done some important and successful tests, and now we will just make the most of the six remaining days of testing before the first race to make some final improvements to the new M1.”
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| Valentino Rossi |
The audience was then treated to a spectacular video of the team and riders, before Rossi and Edwards mounted the stage together for their part in the day. “This new bike is really beautiful!” exclaimed Rossi, who this season aims to win a sixth consecutive World Championship title. “It’s exciting to be starting another season with Yamaha; these last two seasons together with them have probably been the best of my career. It’s also nice to be with Colin again, we’re very close in our team. The new M1 is already very good and we’ve been working very closely to develop it with Yamaha. Yamaha has done a very good job. This year I have many new young adversaries who will be challenging me, and I think there is going to be some spectacular racing!”
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| Colin Edwards & birtday cake |
His team-mate Edwards, seeking to improve on his fourth-place in the championship last year, said “I really like the new bike design, it looks really great. I had the retro-style number five like this on the bike at Laguna Seca last year and I’ve used it again for this year. The new bike in general has been fantastic throughout the winter tests, I’m really excited. Yamaha has done a great job and everything about it feels better than last year. I honestly can’t wait to get back on board this week in Barcelona, we have a few things to work on still but we’re in good shape. My promise for the year is to win at least a few races and have a one-two for the Camel Yamaha Team at the end of the year!”
Posted by Administrator on 02-17-2006 at 07:02 am
Malaysia, Sepang
16/2/2006
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| Valentino Rossi |
Bad weather again today meant that track time for Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards was severely limited on their last day of testing in Sepang. The riders were unable to complete their planned long-runs but Rossi, who turned 27 today, made the most of the inactivity and celebrated with a large birthday cake in the team garage. Despite the rain the riders declared the test valuable and now head back to Europe looking forward to the final stages of preparation, before the first race in Jerez on 26th March.
With track conditions patchy throughout the day, times were slightly slower across the board than yesterday. Rossi and Edwards only completed 34 and 28 laps respectively, Rossi setting the second fastest time of 2’02.06 and Edwards the fourth fastest with a lap of 2’02.33. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) was quickest in a time of 2’01.92.
The Camel Yamaha Team now return home for a short holiday before they reconvene at the Montmelo circuit, outside Barcelona, for the Official MotoGP Tests on 3rd, 4th and 5th March.
Valentino Rossi (2’02.06, 34 Laps)
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| Valentino Rossi |
“27 years is quite a lot and I am definitely getting old, although most of the time I still feel like I am only 16! Today we couldn’t do much because of the weather but overall it’s been a very interesting test. I am especially happy because we have made some good progress to solve the problem with the vibration. We have some new data now and we understand better why it’s happening, and how to finally fix it. We’re not yet at 100% and I think we can go faster, but I am feeling confident.
Before the Jerez GP we might receive a small improvement for the engine, and hopefully we will have a bit more power. The test in Barcelona isn’t so important for us but the final one in Jerez is very useful, as it’s just a week before the first race and the conditions will be similar. Now we’re close to the start of the season and it’s already becoming clear who the main challengers will be; Melandri and Pedrosa especially are looking very fast and it also seems like Ducati are strong. I think it’s going to be a very exciting year with some wonderful races!”
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| Colin Edwards |
Colin Edwards (2’02.33, 28 Laps)
“Today was a bit of a wash-out for me! This morning we only tested a couple of tyres and then it looked like it might rain, so we decided to get started on our long run. Unfortunately I only had time for my warm-up and half a lap before it rained, so that was kind of it for the day! Anyway it’s been a good test, we’ve learned a lot more about the bike and we’ve been able to try quite a lot of new things which seem to make sense. We’re definitely not chasing our tails anymore and the bike is better than it was on Tuesday when we started; that’s the most important thing. In general the new bike is great, pretty much everything is better than last year and now I am just counting down the days to the start of the season.”
Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
We have concluded our overseas testing sessions and now we’re going back to Europe for the final two tests. The conditions in Barcelona won’t help us so much with the bike development but anyway we will try to make the most of it. The important test will be Jerez, which will be the final opportunity for some key preparation before the first race. At the moment we still have a small problem to solve with vibration but apart from that everything is going well. Now we have to work in cooperation with Michelin to find the best combination between the new bike and the new tyres, because both have great potential.”
The Yamaha Tech 3 outfit again surprised with very competitive times of Carlos Checa, who seems to have made the chance to Yamaha and Dunlop effortlessly. Yamaha debutant James Ellison however could not progress on the strong last day test results he achieved in Qatar. He will need some time to digest the input of the last tests to recalibrate himself for the Barcelona IRTA test starting on March 3.
Carlos Checa (2’02.66)
“The times have been really good this week and I am quite happy and surprised with the progress we have made so far. We didn’t know what would happen coming here after the good first test we made in Qatar and we were prepared to have some problems, but things have been better than we expected and I am happy. The new bike is excellent, as I said before, and now we’re starting to understand more about the tyres with Dunlop and how to work together with what we have. We have tried quite a lot of new things with Dunlop this week and there are some good improvements; we have found much better grip here which is helping me to have more confidence.
“Anyway despite all this and the times we have set, I don’t want to be overconfident or to start to think that things are going to be easy. We have only done two tests and, although the initial signs are good, we can’t afford to relax. We have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. The conditions here have been quite strange and now we go to Barcelona, which is a very different track and with much colder weather. Let’s wait and see what happens there. Of course it’s my home track so it’s always nice for me to ride there, but we have a lot of hard work ahead of us so I won’t let anything distract me.”
James Ellison (2’05.70)
“This test has really been one that I would like to forget! We started with the settings we had in Qatar because everything felt good there, but they were a mile off for this track so we gradually started to go back to what we had here in January. We got the times back to what they were then but I couldn’t go any faster. My riding style is all wrong for here, comparing the data with Carlos’ it’s clear that I am still carrying way to much corner speed – a hang-over from my Superbike days – and I am having a real problem to make the change. I need to be running in fast on the brakes, stopping the bike, turning it and then firing it out, but it’s not easy at this circuit, which I find very difficult. The encouraging thing is that I have been losing all my time on just three corners, so if I can crack my corner style, which I know I can, then I believe I can start to be more in touch with Carlos.
“We’ve been pretty unlucky with the weather as well. Most of the time I spent on the old tyres, and then when we put some new stuff in yesterday it immediately started to rain! Exactly the same thing happened today; we tried some of the good tyres and the grip was much better straight away, but then we needed to change the bike at the front and as soon as we did that it started to rain again…
“Anyway, I think I’ve just been thinking about everything too much! Now I am going to go home and spend some time mountain-biking – my second passion after riding motorcycles and my best form of training. I hope that I can clear my head a bit and go to Barcelona in a new frame of mind. I think I just need to just go there, ride the bike, trust in my ability a little bit and stop trying to think about too many things at once! I really like Barcelona so I hope it will be a big improvement there.”
Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director
“We are really happy and pleasantly surprised with the performance of Carlos this week. He was fast in Qatar, but it was only the first test and we knew that Qatar has always been a good track for Dunlop. We didn’t know what would happen here, since Sepang has always been one of the more difficult tracks for Dunlop. Anyway, Carlos has been fast all week and it’s looking very promising, we’re very pleased with the situation with him. We certainly didn’t expect this level of results that quickly so well done to Yamaha, Dunlop and Carlos for the work they’ve done together in a short space of time.
“With James things have been more difficult and we haven’t made as much progress as we had hoped. He’s done a lot of laps but we haven’t been able to find the right way forward for him. This is a difficult track for him and I think, after three tests here, he needs a break and a change of scenery. I hope that a bit of time to rest now will help him so that we can make a new start in Barcelona.
“Overall it’s been an important test and once again we’ve learned a lot. We also got the chance to do a couple of runs in the rain which was good. The most important thing is that we’re leaving with bikes and riders in good shape for the tests in Spain and we’re looking forward to the start of the season.”
Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 2’01.92
2. Valentino Rossi(ITA) Yamaha, 2’02.06
3. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 2’02.20
4. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 2’02.33
5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’02.34
6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’02.47
7. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati, 2’02.65
8. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 2’02.66
9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 2’02.70
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’02.86
11. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda, 2’02.87
12. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 2’03.00
13. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’03.64
14. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati, 2’04.18
15. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda, 2’04.30
16. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) Ducati, 2’04.82
17. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 2’05.70
Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.731
Ambient temperature: 33 degrees
Track temperature: 48 degrees
Humidity: 74%
Posted by Administrator on 02-15-2006 at 07:02 am
Malaysia, Sepang
15/2/2006
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| Valentino Rossi |
Work ended early for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards today when day two of the Camel Yamaha Team’s Sepang Test was cut short by a mid-afternoon rainstorm. The Team spent the morning working on different settings and testing tyres with Michelin, looking to eliminate the vibration that the riders have been experiencing lately, before the rain came down after lunch. Both riders ventured out in the wet on the 2006-spec M1, the first time they have been able to see the performance of the new bike in these conditions, but the track soon started to dry out in patches and they decided to call it a day after just a few laps.
Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 2’01.80, followed by Loris Capirossi (Ducati, 2’01.87). Rossi, who celebrates his 27th birthday tomorrow, was close behind him with a time of 2’01.89 after 47 laps, whilst team-mate Edwards completed 57 laps and set the seventh fastest time with a lap of 2’02.20. The Camel Yamaha Team has one final day of testing remaining tomorrow.
Valentino Rossi (2’01.89, 47 Laps)
“This morning we did quite a lot of laps and we were quite fast and consistent, so I was happy. We worked very well with Michelin and with one or two new tyres that they brought we made some good improvements to the vibration. Unfortunately in the afternoon it rained and we couldn’t go on as we wished. We made a few laps in the rain just to see how the new bike was in the wet; we had some new things to try with the electronic mapping in these conditions, but we needed more time. After a few laps the track started to dry and then with the conditions half wet and half dry, we had to stop. Tomorrow we might do a long run and we will also continue with the work we started today.”
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| Colin Edwards |
Colin Edwards (2’02.20, 57 Laps)
“The weather was a real disappointment today because we had a lot of work to do and we weren’t able to complete as many laps as we had hoped. Anyway in the morning we concentrated on a new front fork setting and generally played around, looking for some improvements to the chatter issue. We didn’t have enough time to do everything but we definitely made some steps in the right direction. We tested a couple of tyres for Michelin but then the rain came down. We did a few laps in the rain, just to check some settings and try out a couple of new things for Yamaha, and everything seemed okay in that area. Tomorrow we’re going to get started nice and early as we’ve got a lot still to do; I really hope the weather is better!”
Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“Unfortunately the rain stopped us from completing all the work we wanted to do, but anyway we tried to use these conditions as best we could to check some things with the new bike. Tomorrow is our final day of testing in warm conditions before we return to Europe and we have to try to use all the time we have available to us.”
Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 2’01.80
2. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 2’01.87
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 2’01.89
4. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’01.90
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 2’01.93
6. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 2’02.06
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’02.20
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’02.37
9. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’02.62
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 2’02.65
11. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda, 2’02.66
12. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati, 2’02.87
13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’02.93
14. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda, 2’02.95
15. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’03.18
16. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati, 2’04.23
17. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) Ducati, 2’04.65
18. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 2’05.08
Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.731
Ambient temperature: 31 degrees
Track temperature: 45 degrees
Humidity: 74%
Posted by Administrator on 02-14-2006 at 07:02 am
Malaysia, Sepang
14/2/2006
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| Valentino Rossi |
Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began their last three-day test in Sepang today, where they rejoined the rest of the MotoGP grid at the popular Malaysian venue. Fresh from their test in Qatar last week, Rossi and Edwards completed more valuable development work with the 2006-spec YZR-M1, both finishing the day in the top five on the unofficial time sheets.
Focusing almost entirely on ironing out the small vibration problems they have been suffering from lately, fast lap times were not the aim of the day for the Yamaha pair. Despite this however, Rossi and Edwards were on the pace and well inside lap record time. Edwards was third behind Marco Melandri (Honda, 2’01.66) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2’01.89) with a best lap of 2’02.00 from 54 laps whilst Rossi, who also completed 54 laps, was fifth with a time of 2’02.20.
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| Colin Edwards |
Colin Edwards (2’02.00, 54 Laps)
“It was seriously hot out there today and pretty exhausting! Today we concentrated on fixing the little bit of chatter we’ve had and played around with some front fork settings, just trying to dial it in. We made some good progress and we have a new front-end setting to try in the morning; we hope that this will be the final key. Honestly we didn’t really concentrate much on lap times but it seems that they came anyway, so I’m pretty happy! The bike already feels even better than it did here in January, the new stuff we have from both Yamaha and Michelin is great and after Qatar I am feeling really confident, especially with the front-end. It’s all going well so hopefully we can make the final steps we need over the next two days.”
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| Valentino Rossi |
Valentino Rossi (2’02.20, 54 Laps)
“Today we worked almost entirely on trying to solve the vibration problems that we have had. We changed many things, tried various different settings and collected a lot of important information throughout the day. Now we are looking forward to using all this information over the next two days and we are confident that we are close to fixing the problem. Once we’ve been able to fix it, we will be able to use this bike to its full potential. Yamaha has done a great job and the potential of this bike is very high, it’s a big improvement to last year’s M1 and I am sure that once we’ve solved this one remaining issue, things will be very good.”
Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“Of course fixing this vibration is now our main focus and today we worked a lot with the entire team to try to find the right way forward. We had great cooperation between the two riders and both crews, exchanging information and experience and this is very important for the team’s progress. We’ve been working on data collection today and we will continue tomorrow, trying some new things and gathering more information to help us. We’ve already done many days testing with this new bike and mostly it’s going very well, now we have two more days here to continue with our improvement.”
Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2’01.66
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2’01.89
3. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha 2’02.00
4. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2’02.15
5. Valentino Rossi(ITA) Yamaha 2’02.20
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2’02.64
7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2’02.75
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2’02.86
9= Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha 2’03.40
9= Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda 2’03’40
11. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati 2’03.51
12. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2’03.52
13. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda 2’03.58
14. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda 2’03.66
15. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 2’04.02
16. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’04.10
17. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2’05.40
18. Jose Luis Cardosa (SPA) Ducati 2’05.81
19. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha 2’05.90
Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.73
Ambient temperature: 37 degrees
Track temperature: 54 degrees
Humidity: 79%
Posted by Administrator on 02-13-2006 at 06:02 am
Reports in Italy suggest that MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi has switched his attention to yet another form of motorsport - following a recent Ferrari F1 drive and his latest MotoGP test for Camel Yamaha - by driving a Maserti MC12 sports car (of the type shown in the top picture) at Misano yesterday (Friday).
Motograndprix.it states that the seven times motorcycling world champion was invited to a secret test for the Racing Box FIA GT/ALMS team at the Italian circuit - and was able to lap just a few tenths of a second from the team’s regular driver, Marco Cioci, after only 15 laps in the car.
The Doctor’s latest outing means that, since the end of the 2005 MotoGP season, he has shown impressive pace in a Subaru WRC car, world championship spec go-kart, Ferrari F1 car and now a race spec Maserati!
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