Posted by Administrator on 02-08-2006 at 07:02 am
Qatar, Losail
8/2/2006
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| Valentino Rossi |
The Camel Yamaha Team finished their third day of testing at the Losail International Circuit with the track to themselves today, all other teams having begun testing one day earlier and finished yesterday. Alone on the track, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were quickly able to complete the remaining Michelin tyre work they needed to do, before concluding the test with long runs in the afternoon.
Neither Rossi nor Edwards improved on their times from yesterday of 1’56.53 and 1’56.81 respectively, and these remain the fastest times from the three days of testing. However both riders still lapped under lap record pace today, Rossi setting a best time of 1’56.78 after 49 laps and Edwards 1’57.07 from 57 laps.
The Yamaha riders and team members now have a five day break before they rejoin the rest of the MotoGP paddock for the final ‘winter’ test in Sepang, Malaysia on 14th, 15th and 16th February.
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| Valentino Rossi |
Valentino Rossi (1’56.78, 49 Laps)
“Today was not quite as good as the last two days, mainly because the condition of the track was slightly worse and we didn’t have such good grip. I think that last night there was a lot of wind and with only two bikes on the track today it wasn’t enough to clean the surface properly. Anyway we continued to work, did our long run and found out some more information about the new M1 in different conditions. We have some vibrations and our top priority now is to find a way to fix this; I hope we can do that in Sepang. Anyway, in general this has been a good test and we have made some more improvements. The times have been quite good and we’ve done some important work with Michelin. Now I go home for a few days to rest before we start again in Sepang next week.”
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| Colin Edwards |
Colin Edwards (1’57.07, 57 Laps)
“Overall I am really happy with this test and I am looking forward to the season ahead. I am especially pleased with the setting of the bike, which we seem to be improving all the time. Both Yamaha and Michelin have worked really hard over the winter and, together with the new tyres, we’ve got a really good package. My long run was not bad this afternoon and the encouraging thing was that my times were consistent, even later on as the tyres started to go off slightly in the heat. It’s difficult to compare to last year’s race since the conditions are so different, but this year’s Qatar race is only two months away now, so we hope that the work we’ve done at this test will put us in a good starting position for that weekend. The general progress of the bike has been great over just two tests this year so now we will hopefully be able to keep working like this in Sepang next week.”
Davinde Brivio – Camel yamaha Team Director
“It was interesting to come here in very good conditions and we got some good information which we can work on for the start of the season. It’s good to now go immediately to Sepang to check again the settings that we found there at the first test in January. Sepang is the last really important test for us before the start of the season.”
Unofficial Lap Times:
Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’56.78
Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 1’57.07
Qatar Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 - 1’57.903
Qatar Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 - 1’56.917
Ambient temperature: 28.1 degrees
Track temperature: 44.0 degrees
Humidity: 50.3%
Posted by Administrator on 02-06-2006 at 05:02 am
Qatar, Losail
6/2/2006
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| Valentino Rossi |
Testing for the first time at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were pleased to get back in the saddle on their new 2006-specification YZR-M1s today. Both riders made the most of good temperatures to put in some fast laps at a track where both of them enjoy riding. Although they are only joined on the track here by the MotoGP Teams of Suzuki and Tech 3 Yamaha, as well as test riders from Ducati and Kawasaki, Rossi and Edwards were encouraged to finish the day at the top of the time sheets and are looking forward to more improvement over the next two days.
Both Rossi and Edwards were inside the lap record of 1’57.903; the World Champion with a time of 1’57.36 after just 48 laps and his American team-mate just behind after 77 laps with a best time of 1’57.52. Suzuki rider John Hopkins was third fastest with a time of 1’57.66 and Tech 3 Yamaha pilot Carlos Checa, making a return to Yamaha after a year’s absence, was fourth with a lap of 1’57.94.
Valentino Rossi (1’57.36, 48 Laps)
“It’s always nice to be fastest, although of course here we don’t have Honda or Ducati. Everything went very well today and I am pleased with this first day of work. As we’re quite close to home I have no problem with jet-lag, unlike at Sepang, so I feel like I have plenty of energy for these three days! The temperature is about 15 degrees cooler than at the race last year and so we are able to have quite good grip and to use the tyres at 100%, enabling us to go quite fast. Anyway with the new bike we have much more grip than with the old M1, but as in Sepang we have a tiny bit of chatter, so we are doing a lot of work with Michelin to fix that. Michelin have come here with many new tyres and so we are working a lot with them to test as much as possible. The new bike is already at a good level and now we are working hard on finding the right settings for it. I’m looking forward to the next two days.”
Colin Edwards (1’57.52, 77 Laps)
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| Colin Edwards |
“Unlike Valentino I get pretty bad jet-lag here, coming from the US, so I felt pretty tired today! I hope to get a good night’s sleep tonight and to have a bit more energy tomorrow. The track is getting cleaner by the minute as more rubber gets laid down, so the grip is improving all the time; it’s already much better than in the race last year. Michelin have a lot of new tyres here so we’re spending a large part of our time on testing the new stuff with them. I really like this track, I’ve always gone good from the first time I came here so it’s an enjoyable place for me to test, plus the weather is great. The new bike really is better in every way and now I’ve just got to build my confidence with it. At the moment I am feeling stronger with every lap. It was a good first day and I was pleased to be able to get going so well so quickly.”
Daniele Romagnoli – Colin Edwards’ Crew Chief
“We very quickly found a good base-setting here today, much better than what we had at the race here last year. We’ve improved the front-end grip a lot and therefore Colin has much more confidence already in the front. It seems the new bike works well at this track and the lap times were good today. We made a good start.”
Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’57.36
2. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 1’57.52
3. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 1’57.66
4. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 1’57.94
5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 1’58.62
6. S. Ito (JPN) Ducati, 1’58.90
7. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 1’59.81
8. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’00.43
Losail Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 - 1’57.903
Losail Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 - 1’56.917
Ambient temperature: 24.7 degrees
Track temperature: 38.0 degrees
Humidity: 73%
Posted by Administrator on 02-02-2006 at 10:02 am
A motorcycling rivalry has spilled into the world of formula one, with Max Biaggi mockingly offering to teach MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi how to drive a four wheel racer.
Biaggi, the axed Honda rider, recently tested for Midland’s MF1 team at a sodden Silverstone track, before countryman Rossi joined the group Valencia action this week and spun on his eleventh bend.
‘’I could have explained to him how to keep a formula one car going straight,'’ Biaggi chimed to the Gazzetta dello Sport
‘paper.
Ferrari’s five time world champion Michael Schumacher, however, might have brought the pair back down to earth by suggesting that switching from two wheels to four is not nearly as challenging as vice versa.
The German tried a Ducati MotoGP bike last December at Mugello, and ended up about 20 seconds off the real pace.
‘’Going from two wheels to four, we’ve seen in the past that this can be done,'’ Schumacher said.
Posted by Administrator on 02-02-2006 at 09:02 am
MotoGP hero Valentino Rossi was again testing for Ferrari on Wednesday at the Cheste circuit in Valencia.
Having impressed in private testing sessions in Italy over the past two years, Rossi made headlines of the wrong kind on Tuesday in his first public outing in a Ferrari when he spun on a wet track.
Former MotoGP rival Max Biaggi was among those to criticise Rossi after his spin on Tuesday, but the 26-year-old now had another chance to showcase his ability on four wheels in a modified version of Ferrari’s 2004 car.
Defending the title
The prospect of one of Italy’s most popular sportsmen driving the famous red cars in Formula One has been widely predicted ever since Rossi first tested at the team’s Fiorano test track in April 2004.
The motorbike ace tested for Ferrari again in August and November last year, but insists that he is fully committed to defending his MotoGP title this season.
But his contract at Yamaha expires at the end of 2006 and speculation is rife that he will join Ferrari in 2007.
Only John Surtees has won world titles in the premier category on two and four wheels, taking the Formula One world championship with Ferrari in 1964.
Rossi could well emulate him, but even he will admit he has a lot of work to do if he is to achieve that monumental feat.
Poor record
The other piece of history Rossi would have to battle against is the notoriously poor record of Italian drivers at Ferrari.
Alberto Ascari was Ferrari’s last Italian world champion in 1952 and many of his successors have spoken of the unbearable pressure that comes from driving for The Prancing Horse.
But that is all for another day and Rossi would have done his future prospects no harm with his performance on the track.
Despite spinning twice, he completed 53 laps and clocked a fastest time of one minute 12.851 seconds, just over a second slower than Schumacher in his new Ferrari 248 V8.
Defending world champion Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets, but Rossi can be content with ninth place on the day ahead of respected names such as David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli. (AP)
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