PREVIEW / GRAND PRIX OF TURKEY
THE MAGIC OF ISTANBUL
Team Fortuna Honda heads to the third round of the season
this weekend and a circuit that holds special memories for
both its riders. Last year both Marco Melandri and Toni Elias
played starring roles in the inaugural Grand Prix of Turkey,
with Marco taking the first victory of his MotoGP career with
Fausto Gresini’s team whilst Toni clinched his best
result of the season in Fortuna colours. Now they are hoping
to fight for the top positions once again at Istanbul, where
they arrive in optimistic mood after a positive day of tests
following the Grand Prix of Qatar.
THE TRACK.
Designed by Hermann Tilke, the man behind Sepang, Bahrain
and Shanghai, Istanbul Park lies on the Asian side of Turkey,
around 60km from Istanbul city centre.
With plenty of open space to work with, the German architect
was able to create a magnificent facility: a technical circuit
with an exciting layout, a huge and modern box and paddock
complex and a main grandstand with the capacity for 80,000
spectators.
Istanbul is different to other Tilke designs in that there
are no extremely long straights – here the longest one
measures only 720 metres. This track is characterised by the
drastic changes in level and a series of varied corners linked
together – fast, technical or extremely slow, such as
turns 13 and 14. Tilke’s intention was to base the design
of certain corners on some of the most famous bends from other
legendary circuits, such as turns one and two, which are a
copy of the ‘Senna Esses’ at Sao Paolo, whilst
turn 11 is based on the ‘Eau Rouge’ at Spa and
turn nine 9 is similar to the Spoon Curve at Suzuka. The track
is spectacular for the fans and challenging for the riders
in equal measures, with the changes in level in particular
creating several blind spots.
Maximum gradient: 8.1% Direction: Anti-clockwise
FROM THE SADDLE WITH MARCO MELANDRI
Istanbul is a special circuit and it is easy to understand
why. Last year I had an extraordinary weekend here. I was
strong in practice and the race was unforgettable, leading
all the way to my first MotoGP win. It was an unforgettable
emotion. Perhaps that is the reason or perhaps it is because
of the characteristics of the track but I like Istanbul Park
a lot. It is a complete and technical circuit with a lot of
changes in direction and pace. There are slow corners in first
or second gear, as well as some fast ones in fourth or fifth.
Despite the short straight it is a fun track and it allows
you to get the full potential out of a MotoGP bike.
Join me on the Honda – let’s take a special
lap together
We start with a short straight and then the first difficult
section, with an exciting braking area, probably one of the
most difficult on the calendar (you drop from fifth to second
gear, from around 280km/h to about 96).
You move back up the gears to fifth, arriving at the limit
to tackle the long right-hander which you take in fourth gear
at around 260km/h. You have to be ready to prepare for the
change of direction to the left that comes after; the bike
tends to slide around and it is easy to make a mistake.
This is the start of a very important section if you want
to set a fast lap – a series of linked corners that
you take in second, making the most of the torque range of
the engine. You come out and shift up to fourth to take on
the downhill right before the big left hander – the
longest on the championship – which can be taken in
third, playing with the throttle to find the best possible
line. You can take a lot of different lines through here but
you must be careful because the track is bumpy. There is a
short straight where you shift up from third to fifth and
reach around 285km/h before a section of four really fun corners,
which you take as one in second gear. Then it’s third,
fourth, fifth, up towards the fastest corner in the championship,
where tenths of a second can be won and lost as you go through
at over 250km/h. It is important to get a good exit from this
corner in order to set up your attack on the final section
of the circuit: a violently hard braking from sixth gear to
first, dropping from 300 to 70km/h. The track is bumpy and
it is difficult to stay on the right line. It is important
to be fast here because you have three first gear corners
where you can make one last attempt to overtake before the
charge to the chequered flag.
REPEAT MISSION
MARCO MELANDRI: “The positive results
we obtained in the Qatar test have made me look forward really
positively to Istanbul – it is a track I like and it
suits my riding style. These are two factors that are in my
favour but I will still have to concentrate hard on the bike.
We’ll be starting with a decidedly different base setting
to the one we had at the last GP and I believe it has a lot
of potential. I would have liked to have been heading into
this event with a better performance behind me but I’m
sure that the feeling we found in the test, the desire to
have fun and the good memories I hold of this circuit will
give me plenty of strength. The 2005 Grand Prix of Turkey
was a truly memorable event – how could I ever forget
the moment I crossed the line?! The chequered flag being waved
and the celebrations on the podium were two of the most exciting
moments in my life.”
ALL EYES ON ISTANBUL
A rider on the up, Toni Elias has shown his potential from
the first race of the championship. His brush with the podium
at Jerez and a front row start in Doha have turned Toni into
one of the surprises of the season so far.
TONI ELIAS: “I’m heading to
Istanbul feeling very motivated. My feeling with the bike
improves from race to race and the test at Qatar confirmed
that we’re working in the right direction. Now I have
to follow it up in the race with a performance that I believe
justifies my potential. I have to try and take another step
forward because we have not yet managed to achieve the results
I am hoping for and know we are capable of. Istanbul is a
track I like a lot because there are so many drops and rises,
fast corners and slow corners. I can’t wait to get back
to a track where I had good results in practice and in the
race last year.”
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