Monsoon conditions hit Misano and cause practice chaos
Terrible weather conditions have hit the Adriatic coast near
the Misano circuit, leading to the cancellation of all of
today’s remaining practice sessions. In the morning,
Shinya Nakano was able to take to the new Misano track for
just 22 laps, to get some experience of the 2.6mile circuit
in the worsening conditions. The leader of the first session
was Italian Marco Melandri on his Honda RC212V.
However, following a two-hour downpour, which flooded the
circuit, run-off areas and pit garages, all remaining timed
sessions were cancelled. The decision was made for safety
reasons, as on some corners water was sitting around a metre-deep.
Tomorrow morning the MotoGP riders will have two hours of
free practice, while the schedule in the afternoon will remain
unchanged with qualifying beginning at 1.50pm local time and
ending at 2.50pm.
Extra practice sessions were drafted in for today, as this
is the first time Misano has been used as a Grand Prix circuit
since 1993. Since then massive revisions have been in place
to increase safety, including resurfacing, reversal of the
direction of racing from anti-clockwise to clockwise, and
the lengthening of the track by around 120 metres.
The original track was designed back in 1969 and held its
first event in 1972. The first Grand Prix held at the circuit
was in 1980 for the Grand Prix of Nations.
The 2007 tyre rule – which sees 17 rear and 14 front
tyres allowed in each rider’s allocation – has
been expanded to 15 fronts and 19 rear tyres.
It is hoped that conditions will rapidly improve, as weather
forecast for Saturday and Sunday are much better than today’s
conditions. Sunday’s 28-lap race is due to start at
2pm Central European Time.
San Marino GP - Free practice classification
1) Marco Melandri Honda 1’ 46.948”
2) Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’ 48.632”
3) Casey Stoner Ducati 1’ 48.852”
4) Loris Capirossi Ducati 1’ 49.167”
5) Colin Edwards Yamaha 1’ 49.219”
15) Shinya Nakano Honda 1’ 53.297”
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