Camel Yamaha Team progress dampened in Istanbul

Giggle becomes official Fiat Yamaha Team paddock scooter

Perfect ride in China sees Rossi to top of the podium

Camel Yamaha Team progress dampened in Istanbul

Posted by Administrator on 04-29-2006 at 12:04 pm

Round:	3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey
Circuit:	Istanbul
Date:	29 April 2006
Temp:	12°C
Weather:	Wet


	Colin Edwards

Local weather forecasts predicting heavy rain for today’s qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Turkey were borne out today as an early downfall and intermittent afternoon showers thwarted the Camel Yamaha Team’s hopes of improving their YZR-M1 machines ahead of tomorrow’s 22-lap race. After struggling to find an ideal setting for the demanding Istanbul Park circuit in yesterday’s free practices, both Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi had hoped to complete some dry laps before this afternoon’s crucial grid decider but they were forced to splash their way through the puddles and battle hard for ninth and eleventh place respectively.

Edwards’ cause wasn’t helped by a heavy fall in the morning session, which left him nursing several bruised joints, whilst Rossi has yet to get comfortable with his bike in either wet or dry conditions. For the second successive race, pole position went to an Australian rookie as Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) showed impressive wet pace with a fastest lap of 2’04.617, holding off the challenge of yesterday’s pacesetter Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Sete Gibernau (Ducati), who complete the front row.

Colin Edwards (9th - 2’07.334, 21 laps)
"I had a big highside this morning and came down heavily on my head, shoulders and knee. It was pretty painful but after two laps back on the bike you soon forget about that. To be honest I felt quite comfortable in the wet but if we want to be competitive in this race we have to find another two seconds from somewhere and I’m not quite sure where at the moment. Our tyre rivals seem to have an advantage but I also have to say ‘hats off’ to Nicky Hayden – I’m not sure how close he was to ending one of those laps on the floor but he showed that Michelin have a good wet tyre so we clearly need to find the performance from our own bike. Wet or dry we have to pull a result out from somewhere tomorrow, but after this afternoon’s session I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine in the morning.”


	Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi (11th - 2’07.552, 20 laps)
"We’re having a lot of difficulty, not just at this track but during this period. Unfortunately the problem with the bike came late in the pre-season and we have not had time yet to fully understand it. It means we are off the pace here in the wet and the dry, but we don’t completely understand why. It seems that our tyre competitor is strong here but we can’t blame this. Nicky Hayden was very fast all day and after him the next Michelin rider is Casey Stoner; with the amount of MotoGP experience he has in these conditions we should be in front of him. I’m surprised, because last year our bike was really good in the wet and after the new bike worked so well at Catalunya during the rainy pre-season tests I was confident it would be good today as well, but it has been the opposite. I don’t have enough confidence in the front to lean the bike over as much as I would like on the entry to the corners and not enough grip on the rear to make it up on the exit. If it’s dry tomorrow then we have some things to try in the morning, but if the conditions are the same as today then it’s going to be very hard for us.”

Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“We are clearly in a very difficult situation at the moment and we need to first understand our problems before we can work to improve them. The engineers are looking at the data as we speak and seeing if we can come up with something for tomorrow. Our team have shown in the past that they are capable of producing quick solutions and I have full confidence in them; somehow we have to find a better performance in the wet and in the dry conditions.”

Rain causes frustration in qualifying for Tech 3 Yamaha Team

The overcast skies and showers that greeted the Tech 3 Yamaha Team at the Istanbul Park circuit today caused many headaches as they searched for a suitable set-up in the miserable conditions at the undulating track. Rainwater pooled at various places on the track during today’s sessions, making riding treacherous, but Carlos Checa and team mate James Ellison were determined to work through a variety of options in order to find the best race set-up.

Despite their hard work, the contrasting elements over the two days of practice and qualifying conspired to hamper their attempts for a satisfactory solution, and the pair could only manage 15th and 19th positions respectively for tomorrow’s 22-lap race.


	Carlos Checa

Carlos Checa (15th 2’10.322, 20 laps)
“The rain caused many problems for me and I can’t say I’m very happy with my qualifying position. We had some settings for the dry to try today but the bad weather changed all of it. If the rain is still here tomorrow it will be important to get a good start to improve my position early. If we can do that and with the direction we are heading in, with our choice of tyres and set-up, we have a chance of a good result. This morning we seemed to have found a good direction in the very wet conditions and this afternoon wasn’t so wet but we also made some more good progress, but as I said I am not really happy with the final result. We should remember that Dunlop haven’t got very much experience with wet weather tyres on MotoGP bikes, but I think that no matter what the conditions are we have made positive improvements ahead of the race.”


	James Ellison

James Ellison (199h 2:12.298 19 laps)
“I would be lying if I said I was happy. With the amount of water on the track and the slower times it was impossible for the tyres to hold their heat on the straight so that made it very difficult when I wanted to start pushing hard into the corners. Dunlop is learning all the time and that is part of being with one of those teams that are developing tyres at the same time. With the feedback we are giving them, I’m confident that it will work well for us in the future considering the experience the other tyre manufacturers have in all conditions.”

Herve Poncharal – Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director
“It was a good chance to have a proper wet tyre test with many tyres to choose from and we proved to be quite competitive. We now have some useful information for Dunlop in our wet weather tyre development. I am confident that we will have a better result in the race than we have had in the dry and wet sessions of the last two days, because we know now which direction to go, even though we did not have enough time to test everything that we wished to.”

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Tricky first day for Camel Yamaha in Istanbul

Posted by Administrator on 04-28-2006 at 11:04 am

Round:	3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey
Circuit:	Istanbul
Date:	28 April 2006
Temp:	20°C
Weather:	Dry


	Colin Edwards

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards spent the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey gathering important set-up data after encountering different track conditions to those they enjoyed here season. With this year’s event taking place some six months earlier than the inaugural race here last October, overcast skies contributed to cool ambient temperatures of 20ºC and produced low grip levels on track, where Nicky Hayden (Honda) set the free practice pace with a best lap of 1’53.623.

Rossi adapted swiftly to the conditions in the morning and set the third fastest time of the opening practice, but he struggled to make any significant improvements in the afternoon and ended up eleventh on the overall time sheets. Edwards, meanwhile, was sixth fastest in both sessions – improving his lap time in the afternoon by 1.4 seconds. With plenty of work still to do the only worry for the riders now is the threat of rain, with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and local forecasts predicting a downfall tomorrow.

Colin Edwards (1’54.042, 38 laps)
“We started out with the base setting from Qatar but it didn’t work very well for us here. Basically we then decided to go with a newer front tyre than the one we’ve been using in testing and it went much better. Combined with a few tweaks to the suspension I built up my confidence in the front and I was able to lay down some good lap times. In the end we put a pretty consistent run together and I’m happy. We’re still getting some vibrations but it’s only in a couple of corners and we can work around them with more time on the bike tomorrow; hopefully it will stay dry. The track was really dirty this morning but it started to clean up in the afternoon. If it stays dry then the grip should improve as the weekend goes on, but they’re saying it might rain so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”


	Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi (1’54.662, 43 laps)
“This morning we were fast straight away and this was quite encouraging. We were third and we thought that we would be able to continue in this way during the afternoon. However we made some modifications in order to improve the acceleration and unfortunately we lost a lot of grip in braking. In fact our lap times were more or less the same in the afternoon but the track was about half a second faster – this morning it was quite dirty – and now we are in 11th place. I am a bit worried but also quite positive because we made some changes at the end of the session, back towards this morning’s settings, and we improved a lot and set our fastest lap of the day. So far we don’t have any vibration and so we hope that it won’t appear tomorrow if the grip improves.”

Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“In the morning things went well for Valentino and in the afternoon they went well for Colin so you could say we had a balanced day! The good news is that we have been able to work as we would on a normal weekend, without the distractions caused by the problems we experienced in the first race. We collected a lot of good information today that we can put to use tomorrow and find a way forward with the set-up of the bikes. The only question mark is the rain so the only thing we ask for is at least a few dry laps so that we can evaluate the solutions we come up with tonight. Valentino lost his feeling a little bit this afternoon but we will compare the data from the whole day and find the best way to work tomorrow.”

Opening day brings highs and lows for Tech 3 Yamaha Team in Turkey

The opening day of the third Grand Prix of 2006 at the sensational Istanbul Park circuit proved challenging for Tech 3 Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison, and the pair finished the day 16th and 17th respectively after the two Free Practice sessions.

Despite some set-up troubles, both riders however found some positive aspects from the day and Checa is happy to be almost fully fit again after an injury affected the start of his campaign. The Spaniard is now in a determined frame of mind to get back to the sterling performances he exhibited in pre-season testing. Ellison, meanwhile, showed that he is becoming more comfortable with the Yamaha YZR-M1 as his times get closer to his more experienced team-mate at every outing.


	Carlos Checa

Carlos Checa (1′56.838, 42 laps)
“Today wasn’t the best day. We’ve been testing the front tyres for a different setting but nothing seems to make a big difference to our times. Hopefully we will find a good direction for tomorrow, especially in the fast areas of the track. We are having a bit of trouble with the grip from the rear, but it seems to be the same for everyone. The Dunlop people are working hard to give us what we desire and every race the tyres are improving. It is only early in the season so I believe it won’t be too long before we are a lot closer. I am confident working with Dunlop and hopefully we can get better tyres as soon as possible. My shoulder has improved so much since Qatar which is encouraging, although I still do not have full strength, especially under hard braking.”


	James Ellison

James Ellison (1′56.943, 40 laps)
“Today hasn’t been too bad to be honest, although it hasn’t been as good as we had hoped. We have made steady progress as we’re tweaking things here and there. It’s a completely different circuit to Qatar so we have a lot to work on but we’ll make a few changes to improve the balance. I love this circuit. It is one of my favourite tracks, along with Laguna Seca and Phillip Island, so that helps when it comes to getting things done. With the layout, it has a bit of everything - especially the fast right hander. Doing nearly 300km/h with your knee on the deck and the bike moving underneath you is something very special. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some more progress with our race set-up and set some faster times.”

Herve Poncharal – Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director
“Today was not easy in places. The position on the sheets isn’t too important but we have to find some solutions. Carlos has almost recovered from the physical problem at Qatar with his left shoulder, which is encouraging, but we’re still not at our full potential. We are quite happy with what is happening with Dunlop and they are working hard. They are listening and bringing new products to every race but at the end of the day we are fighting with two other brands that have been here much, much longer than Dunlop. There are also a lot more riders that can give them feedback and more data to work with. We knew this before we started the season, but we have confidence in Dunlop’s capacity. It is only the third race and they have come from nowhere in MotoGP because it the first year for them with a factory machine. We are really not that far away and we will continue fighting. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully we will be in a better position for the race, come Sunday.”

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Rossi set for 100th grand prix

Posted by Administrator on 04-25-2006 at 02:04 am

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi reaches another special milestone in his illustrious career next weekend as he contests his 100th consecutive premier-class race in the Grand Prix of Turkey. The Italian and his team-mate Colin Edwards travel to the Istanbul Park circuit, located 300 kilometres north west of the capital city of Ankara, looking to build on tentative first impressions of the track from last year, when they finished second and seventh respectively in a race won by Marco Melandri.

The third round of the current season will also be Rossi’s 160th appearance in all classes since making his 125cc debut in Malaysia in 1996. So far he has amassed an incredible tally of 80 victories, his latest coming just over two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Qatar; a triumph that also moved the 27-year-old level with Mick Doohan on 54 premier-class wins, leaving him second only to the legendary Giacomo Agostini, on 68.

The Istanbul Park circuit was designed by famed German architect Hermann Tilke, the man behind the Sepang, Bahrain and Shanghai circuits, and was used for the first time by the MotoGP World Championship last October. The spectacular 5.378 kilometre track features fourteen turns - eight lefts and six rights — and like Phillip Island it has the unusual characteristic of running anti-clockwise.

Like the Losail circuit in Qatar, several of the Istanbul track’s corners are based on famous bends at other circuits, such as the ‘Senna Esses’ at Sao Paolo, the ‘Spoon Curve’ at Suzuka and the ‘Eau Rouge’ at Spa. Spectators have ideal facilities to enjoy the action, with seating capacity for around 130,000 fans and an impressive main grandstand which can hold up to 25,000.

Sunday’s schedule will start one hour later than usual, with the red lights due to go out for the MotoGP race at 1500h local time (CET +1).

As well as taking Rossi level with Mick Doohan in terms of career wins, the Italian’s victory at Qatar also pulled him to within striking distance of the all-time record Grand Prix points total, currently held by Max Biaggi. Having now scored a total of 2886 points in all classes Rossi will move ahead of Biaggi simply by finishing in ninth place or above this Sunday. However, as always, his only target is victory at one of only two circuits on the current calendar where he has yet to climb onto the top step of the podium in at least one of the three classes.

“Qatar was like the start of my championship but we’re already behind in the points and we need to do our best to catch up,” said Rossi. “My rivals are very strong and we need to be able to fight for the win again in Turkey. Istanbul isn’t one of my favourite tracks and we had a really hard time there last year - we had already won the championship and it was difficult to stay 100% focused at that stage of the season, plus we had some set-up problems with the bike. This time we go there feeling fully motivated.

“We don’t know how the new bike will react at this circuit; I hope that it will go well and that we won’t have any vibration problems. There are some fantastic fast corners so if the bike is working well it could be great fun to ride there. We tested again after Qatar and we made some improvements, and although we still haven’t completely solved our problems hopefully even if they do reappear at some stage, we’re going to be able to cope with them better now.”

Colin Edwards is keen to get to Turkey this weekend as he aims to convert the fast and consistent pace he has shown during pre-season testing and Grand Prix practice sessions into a solid race result. Eleventh and ninth place finishes from the first two rounds have not been a true reflection of the Texan’s efforts this year and he is keen to turn things around at a circuit he admits he struggled to get to grips with last season.

“I have to say I wasn’t too enamoured with the track when we rode it last October but I was busy trying to adapt to a new riding style at the time and it didn’t make life easier,” says Edwards. “This time my riding style is sorted out but we still have a few problems with the bike so we’ll have to see how it goes. I was very disappointed with the way things went in Qatar but it has been nice to have an extra weekend off over Easter to mull things over and I can’t wait to get out and put it right on the track.

“So far this season we’ve been strong in practice - if anything just struggling a little bit to make the step up on a qualifying tyre but in general the pace on race tyres has been good. We were unlucky at Jerez and I was really confident of a good result in Qatar but we came up against a few problems in the race that hadn’t bothered us in practice. The day of tests after the race gave us some good data to work from and hopefully things run smoothly from day one in Turkey.”

Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio sees this weekend’s race as the ideal opportunity to measure early development of the 2006 version YZR-M1 machine at another challenging and demanding venue. After overcoming initial problems in Qatar to end the weekend with a victory for Valentino, the Italian is hoping for more of the same from his team in Turkey and expects the timing of this year’s race to favour a more fruitful outcome than last October’s event at the same circuit.

“Last year Istanbul Park was one of the circuits where we had the most difficulties but that Grand Prix was the penultimate of the season, when everything was already won,” explains Brivio. “It will be interesting to see how we go this time around, with the race at the beginning of the year and coming at a time when we really need to get some points for both riders.

“It will be a challenging weekend because we still have to fix the problems that we have had with the 2006 version of the YZR-M1. We will test again on Monday in Istanbul after the race, in order to further try to improve the bike. Despite these issues, we showed in Qatar that we can already be competitive and now we have to take that to Turkey. Valentino’s win has given the whole team and the engineers a real boost and the motivation is definitely there to try to win again in Turkey.”

Technically Speaking: Andrea Zugna on Istanbul

Like all Herman Tilke tracks, Istanbul Park possesses a wide variety of corners and the challenge is further enhanced by plenty of gradients, with the track built on four different ground levels. However, by far the most exciting feature of the layout is turn eleven - a fifth gear bend that is taken at speeds approaching 270km/h, making it easily the fastest corner in the MotoGP World Championship. Combined with some of the tightest chicanes on the calendar, the key to set-up at Istanbul Park is about making compromises.

“Istanbul is a tricky circuit because it has some of the fastest corners in the world combined with some of the slowest,” explains Andrea Zugna, Colin Edwards’ Data Engineer. “In turn eleven you need good stability at high speed to give the rider the confidence he needs to attack the corner, but from turn twelve to the end of the lap you have three very slow chicanes which require good agility; so you have to find a balanced set-up between those two characteristics.

“This track is also unique because of the changes of elevation. For example turn one dips downhill before going immediately up again, creating a lot of compression on the front forks. The rider’s skill is also very important because there is only really one racing line and they must find it - especially through the three consecutive lefts in the middle of the lap, where it is also very bumpy. It is important that they have confidence in the front through here. Last year Colin struggled a little because it was the first time he used his new riding style but his pace in practice was good and his fastest lap came towards the end of the race so we know the data is good. Hopefully it will make life a little easier this weekend!”

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