Turkish GP - Preview
DUCATI MARLBORO MEN READY FOR BOSPHORUS MOTOGP
Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi
travel to Istanbul aiming to get back up front following a
challenging but fruitful weekend at last month's Spanish Grand
Prix. Stoner, a brilliant winner of the season-opening Qatar
GP, took fifth at Jerez, just 2.3 seconds off the podium,
to go second in the World Championship. Capirossi meanwhile
has had a more difficult start to MotoGP's first 800cc season.
In Qatar he crashed while running fifth and charging through
the pack. At Jerez he finished 12th, not enough to satisfy
the Italian or his crew, but good enough to earn his first
points of the season.
Stoner is looking forward to returning to Istanbul Park where
last year he scored his first MotoGP podium after a superb
ride at the front of the pack, finishing just 0.200 seconds
behind the race winner. The previous year the Australian won
the 250 race at the inaugural Turkish GP. Capirossi, whose
wife Ingrid gave birth to their first child Riccardo on April
3, rode his first race at Istanbul last April, having missed
the 2005 event through injury.
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati MotoGP project manager
"First of all congratulations to Loris for the birth
of his son Riccardo! Turkey is going to be very interesting
because it's the first time we will race under the new tyre
rules at a track at which we haven't tested. We are looking
forward to see how the weekend goes for us and everyone else
too. Bridgestone did a great job at the first two races -
Casey broke the lap record on the last lap in Qatar and was
the fastest rider during the closing stages at Jerez - which
proves that the tyres worked really well at both tracks. Last
year Casey scored his first MotoGP podium at Istanbul, which
is a positive to take into this race. Loris has had a more
difficult start to the season - he was leading the championship
after two races last year - but he is a real fighter so we
know he will be back."
CASEY STONER, 2nd overall on 36 points
"We had a really good race in Turkey last year and the
year before I won the 250 race, so it's good to be going back
there. The way the Ducati and the Bridgestones are working
I think we're going to be quite competitive. The chemistry
in the team is great, we're just doing the best job we can
and learning as much as we can about the bike. Some of the
corners at Istanbul are very interesting, like the really
quick one coming up over the hill near the end of the lap.
But it's quite stop-start, it doesn't flow like a Mugello
or a Phillip Island. It's a very technical track to get right,
which is why the race spread a lot of people out last year,
it's quite hard to stay at the front. A wide range of bikes
work there because you've got a big range of corners. You
can make your time through the fast corners with a bike that's
nice and stable or you can have a bike that's nice and nimble
to get through the tight twisty bits. The new tyre rules seem
fairer for everyone, there's enough tyres and I think we've
adjusted to the new rules well."
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 14th overall on 4 points
"I am looking forward to Turkey because we've had two
difficult results from the first two races and I know we can
perform much better than that. The layout of Istanbul Park
is good, it's a really interesting racetrack so I really like
it. I rode there for the first time last year and my first
impressions were really good, though the weather was terrible
- raining and cold - so it wasn't an easy weekend for anyone.
The first part of track is good and then there's the really
fast turn 11 before the final chicane. Turn 11 is a really
fun corner, amazing, because you're going so fast, pretty
much flat out in fifth gear on the 990! You want the bike
to be stable for that very fast corner, but you also need
it to be nimble through the tighter corners. The GP7 is more
agile than the GP6 so it will be interesting to see how it
goes. Like everywhere, you need good tyres at Istanbul, so
I hope we can work well with Bridgestone to get a good result."
THE TRACK
Istanbul Park (5.340km/3.318 miles) received rave reviews
when riders got acquainted with the circuit at the inaugural
2005 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.
Lap record: Toni Elias (Honda), 1m 52.877s,
170.309kmh/105.825mph (2006)
Pole position 2006: Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki),
2m 04.617s
DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDER DATA LOGS
LORIS CAPIROSSI
Age: 34 (born 4 April 1973)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP7
GP starts: 250 (80xMotoGP, 59x500, 84x250, 27x125)
GP victories: 28 (6xMotoGP, 2x500, 12x250, 8x125)
First GP victory: Britain, 1990 (125)
First GP: Japan, 1990 (125)
Pole positions: 41 (8xMotoGP, 5x500, 23x250, 5x125)
First pole: Australia, 1991 (125)
World Championships: 3 (125: 1990, 1991, 250: 1998)
Istanbul 2006 results: Grid: 4th. Race: 6th
CASEY STONER
Age: 21 (born 16 October 16 1985)
Lives: Monaco
Bike: Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP7
GP starts: 79 (18xMotoGP, 31x250, 30x125)
GP victories: 8 (1xMotoGP, 5x250, 2x125)
First GP victory: Valencia, 2003 (125)
First GP: Britain, 2001 (125)
Pole positions: 5 (1xMotoGP, 2x250, 2x125)
First pole: Italy, 2003 (125)
Istanbul 2006 results: Grid: 7th. Race: 2nd
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