KONICA MINOLTA Honda taken out of the Chinese GP
KONICA MINOLTA Honda suffered their first DNF of the season
so far in the Chinese GP today, following an early-race clash
between Shinya Nakano and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Makoto Tamada.
The incident happened towards the end of the third lap at
the tight hairpin after the long back straight. It appeared
that Tamada missed his braking point and lost the front of
his Yamaha M1 unfortunately taking Nakano down with him. Thankfully
neither rider was injured in the crash. Shinya had made a
solid start from 10th on the grid and had climbed to eighth
on the first lap before dropping back to 10th. Casey Stoner
won the race on the Bridgestone-shod Ducati from Valentino
Rossi (Yamaha) and John Hopkins (Suzuki). The Australian now
leads the championship by an increased margin. The first Michelin-shod
Honda home was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who won
last year’s race.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“This is racing and these things happen unfortunately.
After a good start Shinya was battling with Chris Vermeulen
(Suzuki) and then Makoto Tamada (Yamaha) before the incident
happened. It seemed as if Makoto lost the front at the last
hairpin and crashed, unfortunately for us Shinya was just
in front of him and got taken down. I would like to say that
from our time with Makoto as our rider for many years we know
he’s a good, clean safe rider and this was just one
of those things. We now must look ahead and we have two weeks
to prepare for Le Mans. It’s now important that together
with our partners we can evaluate the technical situation
of the Honda RC212V and hope that HRC and Michelin will have
something new for us at this next race. I’m confident
that Le Mans will be a much better circuit for Michelin and
that our performance will increase as a result.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(DNF)
“Firstly I would like to say that I’m happy that
neither Makoto nor myself is injured. I’ve banged my
right hand in the crash, but it will be OK in a couple of
days. Makoto and I are fine, it’s a racing accident
and crashes happen. It’s a shame because our race set-up
was the best of the weekend. I made a good start and was riding
in 10th position but couldn’t follow the top guys. My
lap time was not so bad and I was concentrating on keeping
that position to take advantage of any situation ahead, but
then at the end of the back straight Tamada-san missed his
braking point and clipped my rear tyre. I’m so sorry
for the team that the crash happened and we couldn’t
get a result.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“Fortunately Shinya is OK following the crash, this
is the important thing. The ground temperature was a little
higher today, but we kept the same settings and Shinya’s
comment in first two laps were identical to before in that
he can’t push hard in the beginning of the corner. We
have learned a lot in the last two races and the situation
is clear now we have to start moving forward. We are hoping
to have something new from Michelin and Honda for Le Mans
and the following European races to improve our race performance.”
GP of China - Race results
1) Casey Stoner Ducati 44’ 12.891”
2) Valentino Rossi Yamaha 44’ 15.927”
3) John Hopkins Suzuki 44’ 19.554”
4) Dani Pedrosa Honda 44’ 26.981”
5) Marco Melandri Honda 44’ 30.167”
Shinya Nakano Honda DNF
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