‘Home’ race beckons for KONICA MINOLTA Honda
at Mugello
KONICA MINOLTA Honda heads home for round six of the 18-round
MotoGP series as they return to Italy and the legendary Mugello
racetrack. With almost a third of the season already complete,
KONICA MINOLTA Honda are hoping for a good showing at their
home circuit, which starts a run of four races in a busy four-week
period. A week after Mugello comes Catalunya, two-weeks later
is Donington Park and then Assen a week later, so it’s
hoped that a good showing at home could give added momentum
to move the KONICA MINOLTA Honda team back to the front of
the pack.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“Mugello will be our home GP and for us this is an additional
motivation to obtain a good result. We have many guests and
sponsors during this weekend and for sure the atmosphere of
the Italian GP will give us more pressure than usual. I believe
the track is very technical and it has many different types
of corner and the rider has to find the best line through
every sector of the circuit to get a good lap-time. If Shinya
can be consistent at Mugello I think we’ll be in good
shape for the following race, because the characteristics
of the Catalunya circuit are very similar. After the French
Grand Prix at Le Mans we organized a meeting in our racing
department with our team members and we evaluated how we can
improve our performance during the GP weekend. I believe at
the moment we need to concentrate our efforts to give detailed
information to all our Technical Partners because we need
to work together to find a way to re-join the top group of
riders. We have four races in June and this year many riders
and different manufacturers are up there, so the level of
the premier class is very high with the new technical regulations
having a major influence on the spectacle and direction of
the championship.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
“Mugello is effectively Konica Minolta’s home
GP for the team so I will give my maximum all through the
weekend! People are always talking about my Mugello crash
from 2004, which happened down the very fast start-finish
straight. I still remember and it was very fast! Sure it was
scary, but the track holds no fears for me as since then I
have returned to the track and this year will be my first
at Mugello with my new Team, new bike and different tyres.
We know what our problem has been so far this year –
I can’t carry the corner speed I want, but I do believe
we can do better at this race. I like the track a lot and
if you find a good setting you can enjoy it. It’s a
high-speed track, so if your bike isn’t set up so well
then it’s not so easy to get a good lap time! I won
the 250cc race here in 2000 and I rate that as one of the
best races in my career. So why shouldn’t we aim for
a good result on the 800?”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“This is our home Grand Prix so we really believe that
we can do something good here. To help us we are hoping again
for new material from Michelin so we expect to have something
important to use during the week end. This will be the most
important technical news for us at Mugello. It is a very fast
track and flowing and is one of the most wonderful circuits
in the world! The main straight isn’t a straight, as
such, and there’s a hill at the end and I think that
this and the lay out of the track will see the faster 800cc
machines not having such a marked speed advantage like we’ve
seen at places like Shanghai and Losail. Let’s hope
that we can be nearer to the front of the pack from first
practice on Friday.”
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