FREE PRACTICE – AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX - PHILLIP ISLAND
ROSSI AND EDWARDS MAKE COOL START AT PHILLIP ISLAND
 Camel
Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were
welcomed to the Phillip Island circuit by bright blue skies
and cool ambient temperatures of 18ºC today, as the paddock
breathed a sigh of relief that dismal recent forecasts were
denied on the first day of practice for the Australian Grand
Prix. The relatively good weather gave the riders ample opportunity
to begin set-up work on their YZR- M1 machines as they worked
to find an ideal configuration to suit the demands of the
fast and flowing circuit over 27 laps on Sunday. However
relatively fresh track temperatures of 28ºC, compared
to 45ºC on the first day in Malaysia one week ago, made
life difficult for the Italian and the American as they tried
to adapt their bikes to cope with the lower grip levels. Both
riders struggled for rear traction and after ending the day
in eighth and thirteenth place respectively they will aim
to work specifically on this area in tomorrow morning’s
final free practice session before qualifying takes place
in the afternoon. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) set the pace
today with a best lap of 1’29.745.
VALENTINO ROSSI (8th - 1’31.045; 58 laps)
“Friday is always a difficult day for us because we
have to make a lot of changes to the bike from one circuit
to the next and today was no different. Especially here, since
the track temperatures and the conditions are a big change
from Malaysia, which makes life especially difficult and we
have some work to do. The grip levels are lower than in past
years and I think both Colin and I are struggling with the
rear. For me it is taking me four or five laps to get the
tyre up to a temperature where I can ride at the maximum so
obviously this is not the ideal situation for me. We have
to find a setting and a tyre that can deal with these cooler
conditions better tomorrow because this is a very important
race for us and I want to do well in front of the Australian
fans. However we have gathered a lot of data today and we
have some good ideas for tomorrow, so we’re quite confident
that we can improve the situation.”
COLIN EDWARDS (13th - 1’31.514; 55 laps)
 “It
hasn’t been a bad first day despite how it may seem
on the time sheets. My only problem at the moment is on the
rear – it steps out if I brake too hard, runs off line
if I’m too fast through the corner and spins up if I
get on the gas too early. The front end is great but the low
track temperatures are really not helping the bike to work
with the rear tyre we have at the moment. This will be our
main focus tomorrow and I think once we get that sorted out
then the lap times can come down dramatically. It seems Valentino
has some similar problems and between both sides of the garage
we have some good ideas, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“Today was quite cold and we have found ourselves
in a completely different situation to Malaysia, which we
expected. Valentino spent a lot of time working to find a
good race tyre, whilst Colin worked hard on adapting the setting
of his bike after struggling at Sepang. We didn’t test
here in February like the other teams so we have a lot of
work to do compared to them. Already we can see that our rivals
are setting a strong pace and they will be hard to beat on
Sunday, but we are confident we can make the right steps forward
tomorrow.”
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