High hopes for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP in Turkey
 John
Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Grand
Prix of Turkey from either end of the third row of the grid,
as the two Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers qualified in seventh
and ninth respectively.
Both Suzuki men were regularly amongst the fastest riders
on race tyres with Vermeulen clocking the third quickest time
and Hopkins the sixth in this afternoon’s session, before
all competitors started using qualifying tyres.
Vermeulen will be starting from his best grid position of
the season so far and he hopes that the improved place will
give him a better chance of battling with the front runners
from the start.
Hopkins suffered a minor crash in this morning’s free
practice session, but was unhurt during the fall. The tough
Anglo-American picked himself up and was able to resume practice
on his second bike as he continued preparing for Sunday’s
race.
Today’s qualifying was held in dry and sunny conditions
with track temperatures reaching 34°C. Valentino Rossi
on his factory Yamaha took pole position for tomorrow’s
22-lap race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (12.00hrs
GMT).
John Hopkins:
“It’s not exactly where I wanted to start the
Turkish Grand Prix, but I think from the front of the third
row I can get a pretty good start. Throughout the sessions
today we worked really hard on race set-up. I had a bit of
a tumble this morning, but was able to quickly bounce back
from that. We have found a good set-up for tomorrow’s
race and I think we’ll be able to run at the front!
It will be a case of getting a good start as it will be a
bit difficult to pass here as it’s so slippery off-line.
There are a couple of good braking spots where you might be
able to get past, but it will be tough. I need to put my head
down, run at the front and go for the podium!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“It was a much better qualifying than the previous
two races - we’ve made a big step forward, not only
in qualifying but in race set-up as well. The whole bike has
improved over the weekend and I approached this GP a little
differently, and from that we seem to have been well inside
the top 10 on both days. The bike is working well and the
team have done a great job with it. We’ve done a lot
of laps on both front and rear Bridgestone tyres and they
seem to stay very consistent so we hope they will continue
to do that tomorrow. Starting from the third row will make
my job a bit easier, but I still need to get through quickly
and onto the front group if I want to get on that podium!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Neither John nor Chris got quite the result they wanted,
but that doesn’t disguise the fact that they have improved
dramatically over the weekend and equally have a good race
pace. Both the guys – fingers crossed – look to
be increasingly competitive for tomorrow’s race. Bridgestone
will be slightly disappointed with the qualifying tyre performance,
but they need to be congratulated for improving the grip and
durability of the race tyres so dramatically – which
is far more important! If the guys get off the line well tomorrow
I am sure they will both be in the hunt for success!”
Grand Prix of Turkey Qualifying Practice Qualification:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’52.795: 2. Colin Edwards
(Yamaha) +0.149: 3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.176: 4. Casey
Stoner (Ducati) +0.580: 5. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 0.764:
7. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.842: 9. CHRIS VERMEULEN
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.976:
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