Rizla Suzuki MotoGP on the pace at Istanbul Park
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins clocked the third fastest
time during today’s free practice sessions for Sunday’s
Grand Prix of Turkey.
Hopkins (1’55.062, 34 laps) consistently improved his
times throughout the day and has identified some alterations
that he and his crew will be working on overnight to make
the latest 800cc GSV-R perform even better tomorrow.
Chris Vermeulen (1’55.707, 37 laps) recorded the seventh
fastest time of the day at a circuit that holds good memories
for him following last year’s pole position and top
10 finish. The 24-year-old Australian set his fastest time
on the 23rd lap on the same Bridgestone race tyre. Today’s
quickest time was set by Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod
Ducati, as Bridgestone riders filled eight of the top 10 places.
Vermeulen and Hopkins were the second and third respectively
during this morning’s session when conditions were very
difficult for all riders. Overnight rain left the track very
wet and as it began to dry situations didn’t improve
as the 5.3km circuit was very dusty and slippery.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more practice session tomorrow
morning followed by an hour-long qualifying period in the
afternoon. Sunday’s race is round three of the MotoGP
World Championship and the lights will change to go for the
22-lap race at 15.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).
John Hopkins:
“I’m pretty pleased with how this afternoon’s
gone. I didn’t get a lot of practice this morning as
the track was too wet and really dirty. We got some good laps
towards the end of the last session and we have found some
things we can work on tonight that should smooth a couple
of areas out. The weather for tomorrow looks like it’s
going to be good and we are really looking forward to the
weekend. Bridgestone has brought us some new tyres to try
here and they seem to be pretty good for both performance
and durability. We’ll now have to go out tomorrow, get
our heads down, and qualify well!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“I was looking forward to coming back here after last
year’s performance when I got my first pole and top
10 finish. We got here this morning and it was a bit wet so
we lost a lot of the session to that. When it dried out it
was very slippery and dirty so we really couldn’t get
a lot done, but this afternoon we had a bit more of an idea
which way to go. This is the first time here on the 800 so
everything was really starting from scratch; I felt comfortable
this afternoon and only used one set of tyres. I set my quickest
lap on the 23rd lap, which is further than race distance,
and the tyres were still working well. Maybe tomorrow we can
go out with a softer, grippier tyre and go a bit quicker!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“There had been a lot of discussion regarding tyres
before we came to Istanbul, given that no teams had run one
of the new 800s here. It seems like Bridgestone has got its
sums right based on initial performance and the onward progression
seems to be continuing in very much the right direction.
“John has had a strong day and has identified some
key areas that can be significantly improved on for tomorrow.
Chris set his best lap on a 23-lap old tyre and he too has
a number of things to work on during Saturday.
“The new 800cc GSV-R appears to be a really nice package
around the Istanbul circuit and we will be hoping to achieve
the maximum out of it over the course of the weekend.”
Grand Prix of Turkey Free Practice Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’54.200: 2. Loris Capirossi
(Ducati) +0.779: 3. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.862:
4. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 0.920: 5. Toni Elias (Honda) 0.958:
7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.507:
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