PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP
Grand Prix of China
Shanghai International Circuit, China (GMT+8)
Monday 8th May 2006 - PREVIEW
ALEX HOFMANN AND JOSE LUIS CARDOSO FOR THE FIRST TIME
IN CHINA
 This
weekend, the PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP Team will be in China
for the fourth race of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship,
at the Shanghai International Circuit. It will be the second
MotoGP event on the Chinese circuit after last season’s
first time. None of both PRAMAC D’ANTIN MOTOGP riders
ever rode on this track: ALEX HOFMANN because he injured himself
in Portugal last year, and JOSE LUIS CARDOSO as he was riding
in the Superbike World Championship during the 2005 season.
It will be a new experience for both of them, on the recent
Chinese track, with the DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat.”
(DUNLOP tyres).
The first sessions of free practice will be on Friday morning
at 10.00 a.m. in China (GMT+8). Weather forecast for this
week show a high risk of rain, with heavy downpours for the
weekend. Last year’s race already suffered from wet
conditions.
LUIS D’ANTIN (Team Manager): “After
the debut in Istanbul, this track will be new for both our
riders as well. It won’t be easy but we all will work
a lot to give the best to Cardoso and Hofmann and allow them
to make a good race with our DUCATI DESMOSEDICI GP06 “Sat.”.
We will go on concentrating ourselves on the development of
the tyres, one of the most important and demanding thing right
now. There has been small improvements in Turkey, let’s
hope to go on like this in China”.
ALEX HOFMANN #66: “Last year I didn’t
take part to the race in China and it really was a horrible
feeling seeing my replacement rider going to the podium. So
I have not good memories of the GP of Shanghai! Anyway I’m
happy to get the opportunity to get to know a new country
as China and to race on a new track. The opinions about the
track were not all positive for motorcycles, but I like new
circuits so I can’t wait to go to this place”.
 JOSE
LUIS CARDOSO #30: “It seems to be a very impressive
track, also very modern but maybe more adapted for Formula
One than for motorbikes. Anyway, it will be the same for every
rider and so that’s not a problem for me. Personally
I do prefer the fast but at the same time technical tracks
and this one is surely very fast. I Hope to be able to make
a good result in China”.
CIRCUIT DETAILS
Shanghai International Circuit is situated outside China’s
prosperous metropolitan city and hosted its first MotoGP race
in 2005. After only one event, it’s already acknowledged
as one of the most impressive track on earth. As well as the
Istanbul track, the Shanghai one also was designed by the
famous architect Herman Tilke. Besides, its stands are ready
to welcome up to 200.000 spectators. The track is 5281 meters
long and has 14 corners (7 to the right and 7 to the left).
There are two particularly fast straights, where the MotoGP
bikes exceed 320km/h, and a series of tight corners including
two long right-handers that almost take the riders through
360 degrees. An important fact is that the longest straight
of this track is also the longest of the whole MotoGP World
Championship, being 1202 meters long.
Width: 14m
Pole Position: Left
Direction: Clockwise
MotoGP - Lap Record: 2’13.716 (Wet Race) (Alex Barros
- 2005)
MotoGP - Fastest Lap: 1’59.710 (Sete Gibernau - 2005)
2005 MotoGP Race: 1) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2) Olivier Jacque
(Kawasaki) 3) Marco Melandri (Honda)
|
