FREE PRACTICE – CATALAN GRAND PRIX - MONTMELO
ROSSI CONTINUES POSITIVE PROGRESS AT CATALUNYA
 Camel
Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi followed on from the joy
of home victory at Mugello two weeks ago with an encouraging
start to proceedings at round seven of the MotoGP World Championship
in Barcelona. The Italian set the quickest time on the first
day of free practice, overcoming delicately damp conditions
in the afternoon to dislodge Kenny Roberts (Team KR) from
the top of the time sheets after the American had set the
pace in a stifling hot and humid morning session, run on a
completely dry track.
The threat of rain finally materialised in the shape of a
brief lunchtime thunderstorm, which affected conditions for
the afternoon and meant that Rossi was one of only a handful
of riders to improve their overall times. Rossi’s team-mate
Colin Edwards was unable to do so but he made swift progress
as he worked with the updated version of the 2006 YZR-M1 chassis
in both his machines for the first time. Encouraging test
results with the new frame in tests at Mugello were confirmed
in the first session, when he clocked the second fastest lap
behind Roberts, and his effort was enough to leave him fourth
fastest on the combined practice time sheets.
VALENTINO ROSSI (1st – 1’42.837; 33 laps)
“I’m very pleased because we have done a lot of
hard work today and the lap times are good. Earlier in the
season we were losing time in practice trying to solve the
vibration problems but now we are able to work in a normal
way thanks to the new chassis. It means we can use every minute
of the session to work on the tyres and the set-up for the
race. Really this bike is only four hours old so for it to
already be working so well is a big encouragement and a good
sign for the future. I love this circuit and it is great fun
to ride the M1 here but we still have some work to do tomorrow,
especially on finding some more front grip. There are two
or three riders looking very strong at this track and it looks
like it will be another great battle on Sunday.”
COLIN EDWARDS (4th – 1’43.197; 43 laps)
“That wasn’t so bad. After a lot of hard work
over the past few races we’ve finally been able to find
a direction to work and stick with it so we’re making
progress and not wasting any time. During the pre-season tests
here we were quick in the wet but not so much in the dry,
so it’s encouraging to see that we are making progress
so quickly with the new frame. I’ve basically got the
same bike and settings as Valentino, which worked for us in
Mugello and seem to be working here. We made some real progress
at the Mugello test and I’ve been really looking forward
to coming here and making it count. No doubt the other riders
will get faster tomorrow if the rain stays away but we have
a good margin for improvement at such an early stage of development
so if we can keep working hard and moving forward then we
have a chance.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“We have come here this weekend with a very different
bike to what we had in the official tests back in March but
things have been quite good from the start. We still have
some work to do and some solutions to find, especially with
Colin, because the bike is at an early stage and we still
have to fully understand the best way with the setting. So
far the situation is good and, as Valentino says, it is good
for us to be able to work in a normal way from the first session,
without wasting time trying to eliminate the vibrations. We’re
expecting it to rain tomorrow but we’re happy with the
work we got through today and now we’ll just wait and
see what happens.”
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