KONICA MINOLTA Honda 13th on a tough day
KONICA MINOLTA Honda rider Shinya Nakano took 13th position
during today’s 22-lap race at Istanbul Park. Despite
a fairly good start, Shinya Nakano had to try and avoid a
first lap incident, which saw Kawasaki’s Olivier Jacque
go out of control and take out Yamaha’s Colin Edwards
and Honda’s Dani Pedrosa. Shinya dropped back through
the order and worked hard to make up positions but a lack
of feeling in the front-end of his Honda RCV212V meant he
still couldn’t carry the corner-speed that he wanted,
leaving him in 13th position – not exactly what he expected
to celebrate his 100th premier class start of his career.
The Team has vowed to work hard with HRC and Michelin in a
bid to solve the problems in time for the Chinese GP, which
takes place in two-weeks time.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“We have suffered from some problems that has meant
that it has been hard for Shinya to push hard in the corners
without some risk to himself. When you see Valentino Rossi
in 10th, the results show that this situation affects many
riders on the same tyre. I think maybe our tyres can work
well but they are sensitive to temperature and this weekend
we saw many changes in conditions over all three days and
between morning and afternoon. We always knew that there would
be a question mark over this race as no-one has tested here
and this is the first race in Turkey with the new 800cc machines
and the restricted tyre rule. I think now we have to work
hard with our partners HRC and Michelin to permit Shinya to
carry lots of corner speed. We must learn from this situation
and work hard with our partners to improve things in time
for the Chinese GP.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(13th position)
“My start was okay, but when the big accident happened
I was trying to avoid getting caught up in it and then lost
10th place. I knew it was going to be a hard race from then
on. We suffered again from a lack of feeling from the front-end
of the bike, but at least we did get some points and that
was one of my targets from this weekend, which is one of the
first races in a long season. Our problems have come from
a combination of things, but I know Honda and Michelin will
work hard together with our Team and we’re hopeful of
better results in later races.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“Our problem seems to be from a combination of the tyres
and the machine. The positive point is that we have a clear
idea about the problem we have with the bike, and this feeling
is backed up by the data and telemetry. Unfortunately adding
to our problem was the fact that our tyre was also not the
best here today. Our way forward is clear as we must now make
this comment to HRC and decide what to do for the future races.”
GP of Turkey – Race results
1) Casey Stoner Ducati 42’ 02.850”
2) Toni Elias Honda 42’ 09.057”
3) Loris Capirossi Ducati 42’ 10.952”
4) Alex Barros Ducati 42’ 10.985”
5) Marco Melandri Honda 42’ 11.139”
13) Shinya Nakano Honda 42’ 39.772”
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