GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM LOOKS FORWARD TO HOME GRAND PRIX
The Gauloises Yamaha Team’s MotoGP World Championship
challenge resumes this weekend with the team in better shape
than ever ahead of their home event, the Italian Grand Prix
at Mugello. Whilst a brief two-week respite has given riders
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards a vital opportunity to recharge
their batteries, the team’s engineers have taken the
chance to make further improvements to their YZR-M1 machines
on the back of a valuable day of tests after the last round
at Le Mans.
The stop-start nature of the French circuit and the tight
and twisty turns of Shanghai will be a distant memory as the
riders now prepare to tackle three of the fastest racetracks
in the world - Mugello, Catalunya and Assen – over the
next four weekends. The characteristics of the circuits will
provide a wholly different challenge for the YZR-M1 and the
team has worked specifically to adapt the machines accordingly
in the recent test.
Rossi reported positively on new engine parts that the factory’s
engineers are now aiming to incorporate to the bikes in time
for Mugello, a circuit that demands optimum horsepower down
the second longest straight on the calendar – measuring
some 1,141m. Meanwhile, work has been continuing on the swiftly
improving electronics and engine mapping as the engineers
look to optimise the bike’s acceleration capabilities,
with the riders aiming to hit incredible top speeds of over
330km/h.
Whilst progress continues to be made with their machines,
the riders are also growing in stature with every Grand Prix
that goes by and they arrive in Italy in confident moods after
a dominant showing at the last round in France, where they
took the front two places on the starting grid and both finished
on the podium in the race. Whilst Rossi’s third victory
from four races extended his championship lead to 37 points
over Marco Melandri (Honda), third place for Edwards saw him
close in on fifth overall and made further steps up the championship
standings ladder a realistic target over the coming weeks.
As well as consolidating the riders’ positions in the
World Championship standings, their success at Le Mans also
extended the Gauloises Yamaha Team lead in the Teams’
World Championship and kept Yamaha on top in the Manufacturers’
rankings. It is an ideal base for the team to work from at
Mugello, which lies deep in the Tuscan hills just over 300
kilometres from the team’s base at Gerno di Lesmo, near
Milan.
VALENTINO ROSSI: A BUSY WEEKEND AHEAD!
As arguably the biggest name in Italian sport at the moment,
Valentino Rossi is in for another busy weekend as his home
Grand Prix brings a host of extra pressures. As well as an
expectant capacity crowd, the demands of the local media are
sure to make life harder for the reigning World Champion.
“Mugello is always the busiest weekend of the year
for me, but the most important thing is what happens on the
track” explained Rossi, who took victory for Yamaha
in a rain-interrupted race at Mugello last season. “Of
course Mugello is very special because it is my home race,
and I hope a lot of people will come. Last year was unbelievable
– it was hard to explain the emotion I felt when I heard
the crowds cheering for me on the last few laps. It’s
nice to arrive there on top of the championship and hopefully
we can put on a good show.”
After an energy-sapping start to the season, his best since
2002, Rossi says he was glad of the chance to relax for the
past two weekends and is now ready to return to his best form
at a crucial stage of the campaign. “We’ve had
an extra week of holiday which has been really important because
now we have three races coming up in four weekends, at Mugello,
Catalunya and Assen, and they will all be very hard. When
you have a few races so close together a lot of things can
change in a short space of time, so it is important to keep
the concentration and continue in the way we have started
the season.
"The test in Le Mans has given us some good things to
take to Mugello and hopefully we'll be able to use the new
engine parts there and put to practice the things we've learnt.
We continued to work on the general set-up and also tested
some new tyres with Michelin, from which we found some good
options to use in Mugello. We tried quite a lot of new things
that I think will help us in Mugello so I am feeling positive.”
COLIN EDWARDS: ONE STEP AT A TIME
Colin Edwards arrives in Mugello as one of Rossi’s
biggest rivals for victory, having finally broken his run
of early season bad luck with a thrilling ride at Le Mans.
The American led the way for much of the race in France before
taking a creditable third place, his first podium appearance
for Yamaha in MotoGP. He will not be short of local backing
himself after making a lasting impression on Italian race
fans with a title-clinching victory over Troy Bayliss in a
breathtaking final round of the World Superbike series in
2002.
“I’ve got a lot of fans in Italy after the win
at Imola in 2002 and I always enjoy going back there,”
says Edwards. “My chief mechanic is Italian, most of
the team are too and we’re based just down the road
from Mugello, so it’s a big race to do well in. Obviously
it is Valentino’s home Grand Prix, which also makes
it special. It pretty much goes crazy wherever he is in the
world, so in Italy it should be bananas!”
Like Rossi, Edwards’ progress at Le Mans extended to
the extra day of testing as he concentrated his work on suspension
and tyres. With Yamaha’s engineers endeavouring to provide
the new engine parts for both riders at Mugello, the weekend
should see more steps forward for the 31-year-old.
“At the test we played around with the suspension and
the mapping to try to find ways to make the bike easier to
ride and more forgiving. It’s definitely getting better.
We tested some tyres, found a new front that we’re happy
with and spent a lot of time on the settings, so that we can
hopefully just fire away when we get to Mugello.
“I’m 100% positive that we’ve found a good
setting to enable us to get there and be quick from the start
– just like we did at Le Mans. It’s been a tough
start to the year for me but a lot of things came together
in France and now we just want to take the next step on from
there.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO: BUSINESS AS USUAL
Gauloises Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio admits the Italian
Grand Prix is a special occasion - with family, friends and
fans all set to descend on the Mugello paddock in their droves.
However, the Italian recognises the importance of keeping
his team’s focus on events on the track and says it
will be business as usual once practice gets underway on Friday
morning.
“I don’t know about our biggest race of the year,
but it’s definitely our busiest!” admits Brivio.
“Many of the team members are Italian – from Valentino
all the way through to the staff – so it will be a special
atmosphere this weekend. It will be difficult to work in the
paddock but at the same time it is always nice to know that
there are so many fans supporting our riders.
“Essentially, when the red lights go out at 2pm on
Sunday we could be at any racetrack in the world, so we have
to be sure that we are as prepared as we would be anywhere
else. That means doing everything right from the first practice
session.
“This is the best shape we have been in all season
– we are leading the standings for the riders, the teams
and the factory; the bike is constantly improving and both
our riders are full of confidence after Le Mans. The target
for us now is to maintain that level of performance and keep
improving.
“Hopefully the new engine parts we tested at Le Mans
can be ready in time for Mugello, because it is a track where
you need a lot of horsepower. Yamaha’s engineers are
very busy trying to adapt the bike and it will be an interesting
opportunity to compare our progress.”
BLAST FROM THE PAST: CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF YAMAHA
GLORY
Valentino Rossi’s memorable win at Mugello last year
was the factory’s first at the Italian racetrack since
the legendary Wayne Rainey swept his YZR500 to victory at
the twelfth round of the 1991 season. Rainey’s win at
the San Marino Grand Prix came at a crucial point of his first
World Championship title defence and is fondly remembered
by the Californian for the unique atmosphere generated by
motorcycle fans in Italy.
“Racing in Italy is very special because the passion
the Italians have for motorcycle racing is like nowhere else
in the world,” says Rainey. “I always felt that,
unlike other nationalities that simply enjoy watching racing,
the Italians actually understand what it is that we do.
“In particular, the atmosphere at Mugello is incredible.
The paddock is set down in the valley and I remember lying
awake in my motorhome at night because of the amount of noise
they were making in the hills surrounding the circuit. I didn’t
care about losing sleep though – it just felt so neat
to be a part of it!”
Whilst the huge crowds bank around the hills that surround
the picturesque Mugello circuit, the track weaves and twists
its way delightfully around the bottom of the valley and,
Rainey remembers, it gave him the opportunity to escape from
perennial pursuers Kevin Schwantz and Mick Doohan. The win
also came at a crucial point of his first World Championship
title defence, striking a psychological blow over the pair
with just three rounds remaining.
“I always remember the track layout because it had
so many uphill and downhill sections, which a lot of tracks
didn’t have at the time, and a very long straight where
Kevin and Mick were able to catch me up! We were a bit down
on top speed to them but the chassis and engine set-up we
had were perfect and I was able to get away in the twisty
sections.
“I won six races that season and when you are fighting
for a championship they are all as valuable as each other,
but the Mugello win definitely came at a good time. I think
it gave the whole team a massive boost just when we needed
it and probably damaged the psyche of my competitors too.
It gave us confidence for the end of the season and I was
able to retain the title by taking a win and a podium in the
next two rounds. I was very proud to win a race at Mugello.”
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
At 5.245km the Mugello circuit is one of the longer contemporary
MotoGP circuits, in no small part due to the fact that, unlike
many other classically sculpted tracks, it has retained its
original length and layout. Running across two sides of an
impossibly scenic Tuscan valley, Mugello also differs from
other super fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient
and the speed of its chicanes. There is a mix of slower and
high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners are
wide, allowing several ‘ideal’ lines.
Having foregone the modern tendency to reduce speeds by creating
‘bus stops’, Mugello’s four significant
chicanes are taken at a relatively high pace. Balancing out
the need for firmer suspension on the high-speed sections,
which compress front and rear suspension due to centrifugal
forces, is the requirement for enough pliability to give tyre
side grip and traction around the slower off-camber corners.
The suspension set-up quest is further complicated by the
fact that on one section of the track the approach to the
corners is uphill, on the other half downhill, altering the
parameters in the search for ideal spring and compression
damping rates. Horsepower is a significant factor, with the
long Mugello straight a possible passing place at top speeds
of over 330kmph.
Good top speed aside, the rideability and balance of the
machine have to be second-to-none at Mugello, such are its
spread of corners. A magnificent but stern test of the complete
machine, Mugello demands perfection lap after lap, but rewards
precise and spirited riding.
VALENTINO ROSSI: INFORMATION
Age: 26
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1
GP victories: 71 (32 x MotoGP, 13 x 500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12
x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 144 (52 x MotoGP, 32 x 500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x
125cc)
Pole positions: 37
World Championships – 6 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc,
1 x 500cc, 3 x MotoGP)
Mugello 2004 results (Yamaha): Grid: 3rd, Race: 1st
COLIN EDWARDS: INFORMATION
Age: 31
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Gauloises Yamaha Team YZR-M1
GP victories: -
First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 36
Pole positions: -
First pole: -
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
Mugello 2004 results (Honda): Grid: 12, Race: 12
Mugello MotoGP lap record: Sete Gibernau
(Honda), 1m 51.133s - 2004;
Circuit best lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda), 1m 49.553s –
2004.
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