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.
ALL EYES ON ISTANBUL
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."
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."
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.
GUIDE
Opened: 2005
Lenght:5.340 m
Width: 14-21m
Pole Position: right
Direction: Anti-clockwise
Right turns: 6
Left turns: 8
Straight: 720 m
Max.gradient: 8.1%
Record: 2005 Melandri (Honda) 1'53"111
Pole Position: 2005 Gibernau (Honda) 1'52"334
2005 race:1° M. Melandri (Honda), 2° V.Rossi (Yamaha),
3° N.Hayden (Honda)
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