PREVIEW – CATALAN GRAND PRIX - MONTMELO
CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM AIM TO CONTINUE REVIVAL AT CATALUNYA
Next weekend the Circuit de Catalunya hosts the MotoGP
World Championship for the fifteenth successive season since
opening to coincide with the Olympic Games in 1992 and sees
the Camel Yamaha Team looking to strike gold for the second
consecutive race. Following on from Valentino Rossi’s
epic victory at his home Grand Prix in Italy less than two
weeks ago, and backed up by encouraging data from a subsequent
day of testing at the Mugello circuit, confidence could not
be higher for a repeat result as the team look to close down
the points gap to joint series leaders Loris Capirossi (Ducati)
and Nicky Hayden (Honda).
Rossi travels to Barcelona, one of his favourite cities
in the world, having reached several milestones thanks to
his 55th career MotoGP victory at Mugello. As well as taking
him above Mick Doohan to second place in the all-time winners
list behind Giacomo Agostini, it was also his 22nd success
with Yamaha - the same number achieved by Kenny Roberts and
bettered only by Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson – and
it made Rossi the second highest points-scorer of all time
behind Doohan. He will join the Australian as one of only
two riders ever to pass 2000 career points if he finishes
first or second at Catalunya.
Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards has also been making
his mark in the history books despite not yet hitting his
best form this season. Despite running into the gravel early
in the race at Mugello, the Texan managed to fight his way
back to finish in twelfth place to extend his run of successive
points scoring finishes to 27. Only Mick Doohan, Wayne Gardner,
Eddie Lawson and Valentino Rossi himself have ever put together
a longer run. Edwards’ target this weekend is to celebrate
number 28 on the podium.
Virtually 57 years to the day since the first ever World
Championship Grand Prix at the Isle of Man TT in 1949, this
weekend’s event will provide the latest chapter in one
of the most exciting and unpredictable eras in the history
of the sport. After six rounds there are just 34 points covering
the top six riders.
VALENTINO ROSSI: LUCKY SEVEN?
Catalunya is one of Valentino Rossi’s most successful
events, being one of three circuits where he has already stood
on the top step of the podium on seven occasions – the
others being Donington and Phillip Island. For the past two
seasons he has taken victory for Yamaha and he is hopeful
of repeating that feat as he aims to reduce a 34-point deficit
to the championship summit.
“Barcelona is always a great race for me and I've
won there the last two years with Yamaha, so hopefully we
can do it again,” says Rossi. “Last
year Gibernau set a fast pace and I tried 100% to follow him.
Then I set the fastest lap three laps from the end, which
at a track like Catalunya is amazing. Hopefully we can get
this level of performance out of the bike and tyres again.
Also I get a really good reception in Spain and it is always
a pleasure to ride there.
"I am looking forward to this weekend because now I
think we have finally arrived where we should be with the
bike. It worked really well at the Mugello test and now
I think we've really shown that we can fight at the front
again and win. From a technical point of view, since the new
chassis has been available we’ve been able to ride like
in the past. Now we’re very fast but it’s still
hard to win races! This championship is very balanced between
Ducati and Honda and Yamaha and the other riders are at a
great level so it was very important for us to win at Mugello.
Now we have an eleven race championship and we have
to be on the podium at every round."
COLIN EDWARDS: DOUBLE CHASSIS BONUS
After a week’s break with his family on the beaches
near Barcelona, Colin Edwards tackles the seventh round of
the campaign in refreshed and determined mood following an
indifferent run of early season results. The American has
been hindered by a series of unfortunate incidents in recent
races but the news that two units of the updated YZR-M1 chassis,
which he tested with positive results at Mugello, will be
at his disposal from the opening practice of the Spanish round
has given him a vital boost.
“I’ve been run into the gravel for the last
two rounds but we’ve come out of them both in the points
so I have to use that as springboard to better things over
the next few races,” admits Edwards. “There is
no use lamenting about what could have been – I have
never done that and I won’t start now. The positive
thing to come out of Mugello was the performance of the new
chassis and I’m really looking forward to adapting the
setting even more at Barcelona. It’s another fast circuit
so hopefully the bike adapts quickly and we can be on the
pace from the start.”
Like Rossi, Edwards has positive memories of the Catalunya
circuit thanks to his performance there in the official pre-season
tests, when he drove home in a new car as a prize for setting
the fastest time. “That seems a long time ago now but
it’s true that we went well there with an early version
of this year’s bike. We’ve made progress since
then but the conditions will be very different so we’ll
have to wait and see.”
VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION
Age: 27
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
GP victories: 81 (55 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc) First GP: Malaysia,
1996 (125cc) GP starts: 163 (103 x MotoGP/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: 55 x MotoGP
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
DAVIDE BRIVIO: TRIPLE TARGET Camel Yamaha
Team Director Davide Brivio is targeting a three-pronged attack
on the MotoGP World Championship this weekend as he leads
a continued revival for his team following a mixed start to
the season. As well as building on positive recent development
with the YZR-M1 machines, the Italian is hoping for another
maximum points return from Valentino Rossi and a second podium
of the season for Colin Edwards.
“Before Mugello I said that our mission for the next
few races was to recover points for Valentino and we had the
perfect start to that with the victory,” says Brivio.
“Now we have an extremely important run at Barcelona,
Assen and Donington where we must continue with this job and
try to win every race. Valentino likes all three tracks and
this is another reason why he was still so upbeat and optimistic
after the disappointments in China and Le Mans.
“For Colin this is also an important weekend because
he found a good way with the new chassis at Mugello and we
have high hopes that he can make a lot of progress with it
in Barcelona. Both riders will be on the same specification
bikes, with two units of the new chassis each, so we are starting
from a good point. Continuing evolution with the bike, recovering
more points for Valentino and getting Colin back on the podium;
these are our three targets for Catalunya.”
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: CATALUNYA ACCORDING TO NICOLAS
GOUBERT The Circuit de Catalunya offers a main straight
capable of encouraging speeds exceeding 335kmh, and is completed
by a sequence of long radius, medium/high speed sweepers and
two tight left-hand hairpins. The combination of long radius
corners riddled with a variety of cambers makes it demanding
on chassis balance and means front-end feel is a key concern
for every rider. These characteristics also mean that tyre
life is a key topic in many pit box discussions between riders,
crew chiefs and tyre technicians.
“Catalunya can be very demanding on the front because
there are a lot of downhill corner entries,” explains
Nicolas Goubert, Michelin’s chief of motorcycle competition.
“For the rain we’ve got only one specification,
one profile with different programs depending on the conditions
we have. For the slicks it is much more interesting because
we have two different profiles. One has a smaller width, which
means that the tyre is lighter and it’s easier to tilt
the bike from one side to the other. We have also started
to work with a bigger size but the Yamaha riders prefer the
small one. The reason is because they want to keep the character
of having durability for the bike. For them it is an advantage
and it is suited to their needs on their bike.”
“We are quite confident with both types of tyre from
last year because we had very good results at Catalunya. It
was the first time ever that the surface was new, the lap
time was really good and Valentino set a new lap record at
the very end of the race with a time that would have put him
tenth on the grid. It was the first time ever that this happened
so we are very happy with that and we just hope that our Yamaha
riders will be as fast or faster this year.”
CIRCUIT INFORMATION
Pole position left
Length: 4727m
Width: 12 m
Right corners: 8
Left corners: 5
Constructed in: 1991
Montmelo Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 –
1’43.195 Montmelo Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005
– 1’42.337
2005 Results
1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha, 43’16.487
2. Sete Gibernau (ESP) Honda, +1.094
3. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, +7.810
7. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Yamaha, +18.762
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