QUALIFYING – TURKISH GRAND PRIX - ISTANBUL 29/04/2006
CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM PROGRESS DAMPENED IN ISTANBUL
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 (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 dry conditions.”
FIRST ROW: *
Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2’04.617
Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team, 2’04.823
Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2’05.003
SECOND ROW
Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2’05.540
John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2’05.700
Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team, 2’06.102
THIRD ROW
Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda LCR, 2’07.277
Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team, 2’07.294
COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Camel Yamaha Team, 2’07.344
FOURTH ROW
Kenny Roberts JR (USA) Team Roberts, 2’07.345
VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team, 2’07.552
Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda, 2’07.763
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