Losail circuit, Qatar,
KONICA MINOLTA Honda secures top 10 finish at season
opener
KONICA MINOLTA Honda rider Shinya Nakano made a steady start
to his 2007 MotoGP campaign with a hard-fought tenth place
at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The 29-year-old Japanese rider
made good his promise of wanting to finish the first race
with some points in what promises to be a long, gruelling
season. Shinya spent most of the race in good company, battling
with Chris Vermeulen, Alex Barros and 2006 World Champion
Nicky Hayden. The race was won by Ducati’s Casey Stoner;
marking the 21-year-old Australian’s debut victory in
the MotoGP class. The MotoGP circus now heads to Europe for
the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez over the weekend of 23rd-25th
March.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“Obviously we are disappointed with our final position
but we need to be positive about what we have learned about
our new machine and the tyres. For Shinya it was important
to get used to the feeling of the bike with worn tyres and
low fuel-load towards the end of the race, as you can only
do so many race simulations during the winter. Now we need
to analyse the data from this first race and work hard with
our partners Honda, HRC and Michelin to improve our overall
package so Shinya can fight with the top riders. This is our
aim, so we are all looking forward to the next race in Jerez.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(Final position – 10th)
“Well I at least did what I said I would do and cross
the line and get some points, which is so important in such
a long season. My start was not so good, but I soon got into
a good rhythm. I benefited from a number of people crashing
out and soon spent most of the race battling with Nicky Hayden
and Chris Vermeulen. I so wanted to catch and pass both of
these riders but unfortunately I didn’t have the lap
times to do it. I think we really needed to be around half
a second a lap faster to be competitive where we deserve to
be, but we finished the race and learned a lot about the bike,
which is so important.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“We had to work hard in morning warm-up as the crash
yesterday meant that we had to make our tyre choice for the
race this morning. We ended up going with the medium compound
tyre, which I think was the same choice as most of the other
Honda/Michelin riders. By analysing the data, we know what
our main problem is. Through the series of fast right-hand
corners, which includes turn 13 where Shinya crashed yesterday,
he couldn’t push very hard at all. Shinya has a good
feeling with the front tyre but we need to improve the grip
from both the front and the rear tyres for him to be able
to push harder in the faster corners. We now need to work
with Michelin to rectify this situation and from there improve
our mechanical grip levels. Also it was clear today that the
Ducatis and Suzukis are very fast, so we need something more
from Honda from the engine to be more competitive. I’m
still very positive as we have identified our problem through
the data and the Team and our technicians can now work on
this before we head to Spain for the second race of the season.
Also, Jerez is a slower circuit, without many long straights
so I think this track may suit us a little more.”
Qatar MotoGP race final positions
1) Casey Stoner Ducati 43’02.788”
2) Valentino Rossi Yamaha 43’05.626”
3) Dani Pedrosa Honda 43’11.318”
4) John Hopkins Suzuki 43’11.859”
5) Marco Melandri Honda 43’20.221”
10) Shinya Nakano Honda 43’31.244”
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