2005 MotoGP World Championship, round 3 of 17
Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul Park, April 28/29/30
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THE DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM ARRIVES ON ASIAN SHORES.
The Ducati Marlboro Team travels to Istanbul in fine spirits,
having made a dazzling start to the 2006 MotoGP series, establishing
early leads in both the riders' and constructors' World Championships.
Loris Capirossi won at Jerez on March 26 and took third in
Qatar on April 7 to build a five-point lead in the riders'
title chase, his Desmosedici GP06 performing superbly at two
very different racetracks. This weekend the Italian faces
a major challenge because he's new to Istanbul Park, having
missed last year's inaugural Turkish GP through injury.
Team-mate Sete Gibernau meanwhile aims to keep building momentum
in Turkey after a fine ride to fourth in Qatar. The Spaniard,
who suffered DNF disappointment at Jerez, was right on the
pace in MotoGP's gruelling desert race, proving that he has
really got to grips with the GP6 and its Bridgestone tyres.
LORIS CAPIROSSI, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 1st
overall
"I feel we are in great shape. I'm really confident in
the bike and in the tyres, so although I know it's a long,
long championship I think it's going to be a good year for
us. Ducati and Bridgestone have worked so hard to get us where
we are and we made some more improvements when we tested at
Qatar the day after the race.
"I'll need all their support in Turkey because I know
nothing about the track! I got injured in Australia last year
so I was home when the race happened. Since then I have watched
the race maybe 20 times on television to try and understand
something about the track. It looks to me like a good circuit,
which is great because some new tracks built primarily for
F1 don't work so well for bikes because they feature too many
short corners. Making a rough judgement from the TV, I'd say
it could be a nice circuit for me - there are some fast corners
and it's very up and down."
SETE GIBERNAU, Ducati Marlboro Team rider, 10th overall
"I'm really looking forward to Turkey because I think
we did a good job during the race in Qatar and we enjoyed
a very positive day of tests the following day. We solved
the chatter we had during the race and made some other improvements
which should help us in Turkey, so I feel we can have a good
weekend if everything goes to plan.
"The layout of Istanbul Park isn't so bad. It's quite
enjoyable, though a bit bumpy in places. It's got some difficult
corners that challenge both you and the bike. The super-fast
right-hander near the end of the lap is amazing, it's uphill,
banked and you attack it pretty much flat-out in fifth gear!
When the bike is working well it's an enjoyable corner. You
need a lot of stability through there, but then you also need
really good manoeuvrability for the tighter turns like the
three-way chicane. So once again you need a bike that does
everything well, you need really good balance so you can be
fast around the whole track."
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
"The team is very strong at the moment. Our results from
the first two races have pushed our motivation higher and
higher, now we must maintain that level. Qatar was great because
we thought it would be tough but we got third and fourth,
just seconds behind the winner. Those results prove that Bridgestone
have made huge steps forward and give us real hope that we'll
be okay at other tracks at which we struggled last year.
"Istanbul will be a real challenge for Loris because
he knows nothing of the track, but he's in amazingly good
spirits, so I'm sure he'll be okay. Sete gets better as he
gets more used to the bike and tyres. We were so pleased to
see him get a great result in Qatar after the disappointment
of Jerez."
THE CIRCUIT
Istanbul Park received rave reviews when riders got acquainted
with the circuit at last October's inaugural Turkish motorcycle
Grand Prix. Situated 62km/38 miles south east of Istanbul
city on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, the track flows across
rolling hillsides, producing a thrilling lap which contrasts
dead-stop chicanes with the awesome 260km/h/160mph Turn 11
right-hander. The circuit thus requires some real compromises
in motorcycle set-up, so that bikes are manoeuvrable through
the slow sections and stable through the high-speed sections.
Riders only had one complaint last year, that the track was
too bumpy in some areas.
Lap record: Marco Melandri (Honda), 1m 53.111s, 169.956kmh/105.606mph
(2005)
2005 pole position: Sete Gibernau (Honda), 1m 52.334s
DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS
LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 33 (born April 4, 1973)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP6
GP starts: 233 (63xMotoGP, 59x500, 84x250, 27x125)
GP victories: 26 (4xMotoGP, 2x500, 12x250, 8x125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
Pole positions: 40 (7xMotoGP, 5x500, 23x250, 5x125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Istanbul 2005 results: DNS (injured at Australian GP)
SETE GIBERNAU
Age: 33 (born December 15, 1972)
Lives: Switzerland
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP6
GP starts: 162 (67xMotoGP, 76x500, 19x250)
GP victories: 9 (8xMotoGP, 1x500)
First GP victory: Valencia, 2001 (500)
First GP: Spain, 1993 (250)
Pole positions: 12 (11xMotoGP, 1x500)
First pole: South Africa, 2000 (500)
Istanbul 2005 results: Grid: 1st. Race: 4th
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