2006 MotoGP - QATAR GP

R2, QATAR, APRIL 8, 2006 SATURDAY RACE

RACE RESULT

YAMAHA RACE REPORT (TOP OF PAGE)

• Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top step of the podium after a stunning ride in today's Grand Prix of Qatar. Rossi's 54th career MotoGP victory was sealed with a perfectly timed run in the second half of the race, passing early leader Casey Stoner (Honda) on lap 10 of 22 and holding off a late attack from Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who completed the podium. The win brings Rossi's premier-class tally level with that of Mick Doohan, with only the legendary Giacomo Agostini now ahead of him on 68 victories.
• Colin Edwards endured a difficult afternoon after front-end problems that appeared throughout the weekend returned to haunt him in the race. The American started from eighth on the grid and made a good start, moving up to sixth place by lap five, but he was unable to maintain the fast and consistent pace he showed in practice and he eventually dropped to ninth. Rossi's victory moves him up to fourth in the championship, fourteen points behind early leader Capirossi after two rounds of seventeen.
• Valentino Rossi - 1st; 43'22.229 "That was a great race - it was hard but that is what made it such fun. My M1 worked really well today - as the race went on the grip went down and the vibration completely disappeared, so I was able to go fast at the end. Also I set the fastest lap of the race on lap three, so this shows how well my M1 was working. This win is important for the championship but even more so from a mental point of view for me and the team. It was windy but the grip was good and I was able to chase Stoner, who was very fast at the start. When his tyres went down I was able to pass him and I thought I could escape but Nicky stayed with me. Then I looked back and saw Loris was coming too so I began to get worried about the last few laps. Anyway, I pushed hard and managed to hold on. It is great to be level with Mick Doohan, now only Giacomo Agostini is ahead of me. Records are not the most important thing but they are always nice! This feels like the start of the championship for me. Jerez was a
  nightmare but here we woke up! Big thanks to Jeremy and all the guys because they stayed focused during a difficult time and this is their reward."
• Colin Edwards - 9th; 43'45.149 (+22.920) "I made a good start and over the first five laps I felt fine - the bike was good and I was able to ride aggressively. I thought: 'okay, let's go for it.' Then on lap six I lost the front three times in a row and I almost crashed on each one of them. I thought it was a bit early in the race for that to happen so I pushed on and got going again but the front kept going and I had to ride slower and slower. In the practice simulation I ran a 1'57.2 on my last lap but in the race it was three seconds slower so clearly something is not right. Thankfully we have a test tomorrow to find out what it was and make sure that we are in better shape for Turkey."
• Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "This is a great day for us because we have been going through a difficult patch so to come out of it with a win is fantastic. It is a credit to the team because they have remained determined throughout the problems and never lost their focus. On Colin's side we have to keep this focus because he had some problems today and we want to bring both Yamahas to the top. We have work to do but we made up some important points in the championship today and this victory gives us even more motivation to continue in the same way at Istanbul."

HONDA RACE REPORT (TOP OF PAGE)

• Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2nd “Battling for the win is so much more fun than battling for fourth place! I pushed Valentino hard today and I pushed myself about as hard as I could too. We had the bike that could win today, but on the last lap in a left-hander I got into a nice little slide, Valentino gapped me pretty good and it was hard to recover. We gambled a bit with set up today, we rolled the dice, and it worked well for me in the race, helping a lot in the fast corners. So a big thanks to my crew. Its my second year with my crew chief and were working really well together. All the guys have been working hard and making some good improvements on the bike. We’ve still got some work to do and well be back here in the morning testing, but the new bikes definitely getting better and were heading in the right direction. Six podiums on the trot is cool, but it would be nice to get a few wins along the way!”
• Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 5th "The start was great and I felt really comfortable out front and just concentrated on doing my own thing but as the fuel got lighter I wasn't able to up the pace as I lost some rear grip. My physical condition was also a factor today and I wasn't feeling 100%. I thought I could have got a better result today. I missed a lot of pre-season training and then I had the flu and after ten laps my leg began to cramp up. When Valentino came passed for the lead I wasn't surprised, it was only a matter of time, and over the second half of the race I had a good battle with Loris and Gibernau."
• Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 6th Its easy to say this now, but I believe I could have finished further up, at least in 4th, if Id made a better start.
  We had a problem with the clutch, like Nicky when he was practising his starts yesterday. At first I thought the wheel was spinning but actually it was the clutch. Then, when I was behind Elias and we were both overtaking Hopkins his bike put oil on our visors. Elias closed the throttle and we lost a lot of time on the leaders at least 3 or 4 seconds. When I caught Melandri we had a big battle. My bike was really fast and I could overtake him, but he was braking so late! Im not angry with the result, but Im upset because today I lost a good opportunity to be battling at the front. In the race I learned a lot of things and I know I performed as well as I could have. Although Im frustrated today, the two races so far have been really positive.
• Makoto Tanaka Repsol Honda Team Manager “ Ahhh! How disappointing today's result is! Nicky has worked hard to finalise his set-up since he came here and he did a really excellent job both in yesterdays qualifying and today’s race. He’s become really strong mentally since last year and I want sincerely to praise his work today. Dani lost many positions at the start because of an uncertain feeling from the clutch which caused him to wheelie. However, he did very well to finish sixth. He’s a really professional rider who doesn't stop racing until he crosses the line. We didn’t win, but Nicky took 2nd place and Dani is in 3rd place in the riders championship which bodes well for the rest of the season. We still have work to do to improve the bikes performance but I think we are close to our target. So, watch this space.

QUALIFYING (TOP OF PAGE)

• STONER: “I expected it to take two years to get a pole – not two races.

			Casey Stoner on pole
		GRID	APRIL 7, 2006
	POS	RIDER	BIKE	TIME	GAP
	1	Casey Stoner	Honda LCR	1:55.683	0
	2	Loris Capirossi	Ducati Marlboro Team	1:55.721	0.038
	3	Toni Elias	Fortuna Honda	1:55.735	0.053
	4	Nicky Hayden	Repsol Honda Team		0.11
	5	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team		0.32
	6	Valentino Rossi	Camel Yamaha Team		0.39
	7	Sete Gibernau	Ducati Marlboro Team
	8	Colin Edwards	Camel Yamaha Team
	9	Shinya Nakano	Kawasaki Racing Team
	10	Kenny Roberts	Team Roberts Honda
	11	Chris Vermulen	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
	12	Marco Melandri	Fortuna Honda
	13	John Hopkins	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
	14	Carlos Checa	Tech 3 Yamaha
	15	Randy de Puniet	Kawasaki Racing Team
	16	Makoto Tamada	Konica Minolta Honda
	17	James Ellison	Tech 3 Yamaha
	18	Alex Hofmann	Pramac d'Antin MotoGP
	19	Jose Luis Cardoso	Pramac d'Antin MotoGP

HONDA QUALIFYING REPORT (TOP OF PAGE)

• In only his second ever MotoGP qualifying, class rookie Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V) rode rampant here in the burning desert heat to notch his first pole position in MotoGP on a 990cc machine. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) was second fastest with another red-hot Honda rookie Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) completing the front row in third.
• Despite a bout of flu and airline mishaps that prevented the young Aussie from arriving at the Losail track until the morning of first free practice yesterday, Casey showed just how quickly he has adapted to the big bikes by being fastest in that initial hour-long session.
• And he kept up the momentum by heading the final free training timesheet this morning too. Few, however, expected him to maintain station at the top of the charts today. But Stoner’s astonishing time of 1m 55.683 seconds showed just how rapidly he has adapted to the step up in class from 250cc racing.
• With a track temperature of 45 degrees at this sun-baked circuit, conditions were punishing for both riders and machinery and Stoner was flying from the off, heading the field until Capirossi put in a 1m 56.187s lap at the midway point.
• STONE, POLE: “I expected it to take two years to get a pole – not two races. The LCR team has given me a bike with strong set-up since first practice. And this afternoon it was a case of just bolting in the qualifiers and going for a lap. But when I saw the other riders attacking the time I was sure they’d be faster. I’m still a bit weak from the flu so this a big relief.”
• ELIAS, 3RD: “I am very satisfied. I want to thank my team and the Michelin mechanics for the great job they’ve done. We worked very well today, but it is going to be a difficult race tomorrow as a lot of riders are going quick and the tyres are sure to suffer because of the heat. The most important thing will be to get a good start.”
• HAYDEN, 4TH: “In race trim it’s been a little frustrating. We can make the bike better in one area, like getting into the corner, and then it’s not so good coming out. Luckily I’ve got a lot of sharp people around here working hard, so it’s not for a lack of effort – or a lack of brains! Tomorrow’s race day, we’ll try and sweeten it up overnight, arrive in the morning with the race face on and be ready to go for it when the lights go out.”
• PEDROSA, 5TH: “The most important thing now is to try to get a good start and get a good position into the first corner – this is very important. The qualifying session was difficult for me again. We improved a little, but I still have to learn many things about qualifying: the timing, how to make the most of a qualifying tyre and to decide which front I prefer for a track.

YAMAHA QUALIFYING REPORT (TOP OF PAGE)

• Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards improved the setting of their Yamaha M1 machines for tomorrow's Grand Prix of Qatar despite struggling for a fast single lap in this afternoon's qualifying practice. Whilst both riders again demonstrated encouraging pace on race rubber, the improved rear grip offered by the qualifying tyre at the end of the session exaggerated the remaining traces of vibration problems and prevented them from mounting a serious challenge for a front row start.
• Rossi was the quickest of the pair, clocking the sixth fastest time to seal a slot on the second row of the grid. Edwards, meanwhile, was just over a tenth of a second outside the time set by his team-mate and will start from two places behind him in tomorrow's 22-lap race, which starts at 15h local time (14h CET). Leading the way from pole position will be Australian youngster Casey Stoner (Honda), who produced a record lap of 1'55.683 to surprise the rest of the field in only his second MotoGP appearance. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and Toni Elias (Honda) complete the front row.
• Valentino Rossi (6th, 1'56.076, 25 laps) "The problem is that when the grip comes up we push more and the vibration comes back, so today we couldn't use the full potential of the qualifying tyre and I am only sixth. Anyway my race rhythm is not so bad and there are many riders close together, so I think it will be a good battle tomorrow. I am very surprised by Stoner and I would like to give him my sincere congratulations. He has been very fast all weekend and he used the qualifying tyre to 100%, even better than Loris, who has a lot of experience. Loris is in good shape again but I think the guys to beat are the young riders - Stoner, Elias and Pedrosa. Tomorrow we will see, but it should be interesting!"
• Colin Edwards (8th, 1'56.230, 22 laps)"We've definitely made the bike better since yesterday and even from this morning. We're still struggling with a little bit of vibration but the problem is continually reducing and I think we're on to something with the setting. We'll make a few small changes in the morning but it's a fine line between what could work and what definitely doesn't work so we have to be careful not to go backwards. My race pace is okay but I'm not going to lie - it was hard work. If the other guys were doing 1'57s I'd be delighted but I think we'll have hold it in the 1'56 mark during the race to come out with a top result. It's going to be tough but if we can make a small step in the morning we'll be ready."
• Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha team Director "We have had fewer problems here than we had in Jerez but the situation is still not perfect. The qualifying session did not go so well for us but both riders have a decent race pace and I think they are in good shape for tomorrow. It will be hard because no doubt the young riders will push hard from the start. It will be a close battle at the front but I think we can be a part of it."

RACE PREVIEW (TOP OF PAGE)

HONDA

• The Repsol Honda Team heads to Qatar this weekend for the second round of the MotoGP World Championship keen to build on their strong start to the season. Both the Honda factory team’s riders finished on the podium at the first round in Jerez eight days ago and they will be aiming to go one better in Saturday’s race at the Losail International Circuit near Doha, the capital city of Qatar.
• American Nicky Hayden, who set the lap record at the 5.383km (3.343 mile) Losail circuit last year on his way to third place, will be looking to maximise the performance of the new RC211V he’s been working so hard to develop. If the 24-year-old star from Owensboro, Kentucky, finishes in the top three here it will be his sixth straight podium finish in the MotoGP class.
• Twenty-year-old Dani Pedrosa knows he faces a big challenge if he is to repeat the sensational debut performance that saw him take second place in his first ever MotoGP race. The reigning 250cc World Champion from Barcelona, Spain, will be tackling the Losail circuit for the first time on a MotoGP bike which means he will need to quickly adapt to the different riding style and machine set-up required. He goes into the weekend fully aware that some of his more experienced rivals who struggled at the first round, including World Champion Valentino Rossi, will be eager to re-assert themselves at the front of the field.
• Last year’s event was held in searing 39-degree heat but for 2006 the race has been moved from October to April in the hope that the riders and teams can enjoy cooler weather. Unusually for MotoGP the race is held on a Saturday in order to sit closer to the Muslim weekend which falls on Thursday and Friday.
• Nicky Hayden: “I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen here. With pre-season testing followed by the first race, we were at Jerez for quite a while, so I’m really looking forward to getting out on a new track. Hopefully we’ve got a good package for the circuit. I quite like the layout here - it’s got some fun stuff. There are a couple of banked corners that are fun and some long, long right handers which are pretty cool. I’d say my favourite part is the combination of Turn One, Turn Two and Turn Three – two banked corners followed by a fast right-hander. Some of the teams were testing here earlier in the year while we were at a different track. Nonetheless we’re ready to go. It’s certainly going to be a different atmosphere compared to Jerez where it’s a packed house because at this place there is a pretty thin crowd.”
• Dani Pedrosa : “It will be a tough race I think because at the first round in Jerez many of the top riders had problems and they will not accept the situation, so I think they will be pushing hard to get back to their positions from the end of the season last year. And for sure they won’t like that I’m already in front so they will be trying even harder to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I think this will make the race faster. This season we’re going to Qatar much earlier in the year and we will see how the conditions are because last year was very, very hot. It will be more difficult for me because I have to learn the track with this machine and find the set-up in a much shorter time than in Jerez where we had a three-day test two weeks before the race. It’ll be a good challenge.”

YAMAHA (TOP OF PAGE)

• The Camel Yamaha Team move on to the Middle East next weekend with the objective of making up for lost points and pride following a disappointing start to the season in the opening round at Jerez. The Grand Prix of Qatar represents the ideal opportunity of a reprieve, with Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards having performed well in pre-season testing at the Losail International Circuit in February.
• A further day of testing following the Jerez race provided the team with another opportunity to work on the vibration problems that hampered the riders in Jerez, and the day produced some positive results. Such problems were at a minimum when the team tested at Qatar in February, so Yamaha is hopeful of starting out positively for the second race of the season.
• Based on the outskirts of the capital city of Doha, Losail hosted the MotoGP World Championship for the first time in 2004 after an incredible round-the-clock project that took a little over a year to complete, with an investment of around $58 million USD and 1,000 full- time workers. During its short history the event has brought famous results for both Camel Yamaha Team riders, with Edwards storming to second place in the inaugural race and Rossi clinching victory after an exciting battle with Marco Melandri last year.
• Having been held in October for the past two seasons, it was expected that this year’s spring race would see slightly cooler conditions but, with early weather forecasts predicting ambient temperatures of around 30ºC, it promises to be an equally gruelling weekend for the riders. As usual the Grand Prix will be held on Saturday as opposed to Sunday and the MotoGP race will start one hour later than normal at 1500h local time, in order to coincide with its regular CET slot of 1400h.
• ROSSI: GETTING BACK ON TRACK: Valentino Rossi can’t wait to get back to action this weekend after the anti-climax of his worst ever premier-class finish at Jerez. After being brought down by another rider at the first corner, Rossi was denied the chance to defend a record of five consecutive first round wins in the MotoGP class, but knows that the best way to make up for it is to bounce back with a good result in Qatar.
• “After a bad start to the season, I am looking forward to going to Qatar and erasing the bad memories!” said Rossi. “Our bike worked really well when we went to Qatar for pre-season testing, so we hope that this will be the case again. It’s true that we also had a tiny bit of vibration there, but it was only in a couple of places and it was quite manageable. Anyway our bike was very fast in Qatar from the first day, so this is a good sign.
• “Last year my victory in Qatar was probably the most exciting race of the season for me, the whole race was at ridden at the maximum and I had a great, great battle with Melandri. I hope that we can have another good race this year, and of course I hope that I can win again and get our championship defence ‘back on track!’ Qatar is a hard race and very tiring because of the heat, but it’s a great track and I enjoy riding there.”
• COLIN EDWARDS: ONWARDS AND UPWARDS: Colin Edwards also has plenty of reasons to look forward to Qatar after riding himself into a spin with the set-up problems at Jerez. The Texan Tornado is keen to get back to a track where the YZR-M1 excelled during pre-season tests and says he expects to return to the personal form that saw him drive away with a new car after setting the fastest time at the Official Tests in Barcelona in early March.
• “To be honest I couldn’t wait to get out of Jerez on Monday evening, it was a nightmare weekend for us really,” said Edwards, who has finished in the points at every race since that second place at Qatar in 2004 - a run of 21 consecutive top fifteen finishes. “Things didn’t work from the start and our luck couldn’t have been worse in the race but it’s time to turn the page now. I’ve got belief in the bike and the team and I know we can turn it around in Qatar. I only have to look across the garage at Valentino to know it is not my riding that is at fault so personally my confidence is still at a premium and I feel ready to ride to the best of my ability.
• “Losail is a very smooth circuit, with slight camber changes, where you have to keep a good line and a nice flow to your riding. The grip has obviously got better over the past couple of years but you still have to be careful about getting off line when overtaking because of the sand that blows onto the track. It’s a pretty nice circuit considering it’s in the middle of the desert!”
• DAVIDE BRIVIO: WE WILL BOUNCE BACK: Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio says the team’s morale has not been dented by events at Jerez last week and stresses that their only focus now is on turning their fortunes around in Qatar. The extra day of testing in Spain provided a welcome chance to gather extra data that Brivio believes will provide vital set-up alternatives when the track action gets underway on Thursday morning.
• “The test on Monday was very useful,” says Brivio. “We made a slight improvement to the set-up but more than that we were able to gather information that will be useful for us to start with in Qatar. We go there with a couple of different options. One is to use the base setting we found in the pre-season tests, although we missed many of the other teams then so it will be interesting to compare the performance of our competitors on Friday morning. The other is to try the different settings we found at Jerez as a solution to the chatter.
• “We know it will be another tough weekend for the team but the morale is still very good. Of course it was a shame to lose so many points in the first race but we are not feeling sad about that now, only focused on the job we have to do. We are keeping our heads down and working hard, studying the data until we find a solution and we will continue to do that every weekend until we are back on top. The mood is optimistic and we are confident that when this problem is solved we can fight to be at the top of the points standings.”
• TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: MATTEO FLAMIGNI ON QATAR: Following the recent problems at Jerez, data gathered at pre-season tests and during last year’s race in Qatar will be even more crucial than usual this weekend. The 5.4 kilometre track features sixteen corners, ten to the right and six to the left, with a series of fast sweeping sections and several hard braking areas which are unique to any other circuit in the world.
• “Qatar is a difficult track because you have some very slow corners which come immediately after a change of direction,” explains Matteo Flamigni, Valentino Rossi’s Data Engineer. “At most circuits the hard braking follows a long straight but at Qatar this happens only once. For example, turn six is a tight hairpin that comes with a quick right-left change under braking, so the bike needs to be very stable but also very agile for a good performance in that section.
• “The most important section for set-up is probably the three fast rights at the end. You need good stability at maximum lean angle so that the rider feels confident enough to open the throttle, because this is where he can make up the most time. At Jerez the final two fast rights before the last hairpin are very similar and I could see on the data that Valentino did not have the confidence to open the throttle there in the way he had done the previous season. At Qatar we will have to find this compromise between stability on the brakes and stability at maximum lean angle so that our riders can perform to their full potential.”