Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai
Practice, Friday May 12 2006
DUCATI MARLBORO MEN SHINE IN THE RAIN.
Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau
shone brightly in miserable conditions during today's rain-lashed
opening practice sessions for Sunday's Chinese motorcycle
Grand Prix. Capirossi ended the day a close second, with Gibernau
just behind in fourth spot after leading most of this afternoon's
outing.
Both men focused on riding plenty of laps with their Bridgestone
rain tyres, looking for the best wet-weather tyre in case
the race is also run in the rain. But latest weather forecasts
suggest that while tomorrow will be wet, race day is likely
to be overcast but dry. If that forecast is correct, riders
will only have Sunday's 20-minute warm-up session in which
to work on dry set-up and tyre choice.
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 2nd fastest, 2m 09.748s
"The visibility got worse at the end of this afternoon's
session, so during my final run I pulled over to the side
of the track, cleared my visor, then pushed harder on my last
lap and everything was okay. This morning we worked a lot
on wet set-up, we made a lot of progress with engine-management
settings and we tried Bridgestone's three different rear rain
tyres. All three are okay but I already prefer one over the
others. We are good in the wet, thanks to all the work we've
done on engine management, but in the dry, when the tyres
are working well, we can be even better!
"I'm happy with today's results, it's surprising how
many riders are going very fast in these conditions. Tomorrow,
I hope the weather will be the same as it will be on Sunday,
wet or dry. But there's not much point talking about what
the weather will do, we'll just see what happens and make
the most of it."
SETE GIBERNAU, 4th fastest, 2m 10.187s
"We've been doing a lot of wet-weather riding at the
last couple of races. We are chipping away at things and the
bike seems to be working okay here, the tyres too. During
the morning and afternoon sessions I did a lot of laps on
the same tyres because I wanted to put race distance on them
and we managed to do that. This afternoon I did have some
problems with helmet fogging, which is very rare, but I know
Arai will get that fixed for tomorrow because they're the
best.
"We will have to see what the weather brings, but if
it stays wet for tomorrow and then dries out for Sunday, everyone
will be gambling on bike settings and tyre choice. Plus, we
don't really know much about this track in the dry because
it rained most of the time here last year. The surface seems
grippy enough in the wet, but it doesn't drain too well, so
when it rains really hard you get a build up of surface water,
then you don't have so much grip."
Temperatures: Ambient: 17 degrees. Track: 17 degrees
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