Qatar, Losail International Circuit
Rossi and Edwards aim for Qatar reprise
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.
Valentino 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."
Valentino Rossi: Information
Age: 27
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
GP victories: 81 (42 x MotoGP, 13 x 500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12
x 125cc) First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First
GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc) GP starts: 158 (66 x MotoGP, 32
x 500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc) Pole positions: 40 World
Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc,
4 x MotoGP)
Colin Edwards: Information
Age: 32
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 50 x MotoGP
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
Qatar Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005
- 1'57.903
Qatar Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati)
2005 - 1'56.917
2005 Results:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 43.33.759
2. Marco Melandri (Honda) +1.670
3. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +5.336
4. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +14.737
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