Capirossi battles through the pain at Sachsenring
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Loris Capirossi made his comeback
from injury at Sachsenring in Germany today and immediately
set about his work with the same determination and conviction
that he has shown all season.
Capirossi (P12, 1’23.274, 56 laps) is still suffering
from the puncture wound he sustained last time out in Assen,
but the courageous Italian showed little sign on the track
of the injury hampering his performance, as he completed as
many laps of the 3,671m German circuit in the afternoon session
as any other rider present. He will continue to have further
medical assistance to help with his recovery tonight to ensure
he is in the best possible condition for tomorrow’s
qualifying and Sunday’s race.
Chris Vermeulen (P14, 1’23.411, 58 laps) had a mixed
couple of practice sessions today. He was very satisfied with
the progress he and his crew made in the morning period, but
was not as pleased with how things went during the afternoon.
He made a number of changes to his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R during
the hour-long session but just couldn’t find the setting
he was looking for and – although he clocked a quicker
time – he eventually reverted back to the morning’s
set-up to try and find the best way forward.
Today’s practice was held in dry and very warm conditions
with track temperatures reaching 46ºC. The fastest time
was set by World Champion Casey Stoner on his Bridgestone-shod
Ducati.
Rizla Suzuki has one more practice session tomorrow morning
followed by the qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s
30-lap race is round 10 of the season and gets underway at
14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).
Loris Capirossi:
“First of all I want to say I’m really sorry
to the whole team, because today I have had to fight with
myself as well as the bike due to my condition still being
not as good as it could be - but I am happy to be here and
happy to be fighting to get back to fitness. The thing that
I want is to have is my condition 100% because the bike is
not too bad here and it is working very well around this track.
The team have made a really good job and they improved the
bike a lot from this morning. We have to keep working in the
same way tomorrow and I am sure we can still be more competitive!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“It has not been a good day overall even though we
did make a good start this morning and the bike worked well
straight out of the box. We only used one set of tyres in
the morning session and the durability seemed really good
while the track was cooler. This afternoon it was much warmer,
but we seemed to go nowhere with the bike. We tried a few
things but still went back to the same setting as we had this
morning. We just couldn’t seem to make it better so
we have a lot of work to do overnight to make it happen tomorrow.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It hasn’t been the easiest of days for a variety
of reasons – but at least the weather has held and that
has enabled us to get a lot of laps ridden and a lot of information
gathered. I think that Loris is in more pain and is physically
struggling more than he expected - and certainly more than
he is admitting to! We can only say thank-you for his enthusiasm
and commitment to get back on the bike and continue to push
things in the right direction. His 31-laps in this afternoon’s
session show that he is certainly not scared of enduring the
pain and that he wants to make the bike the best it can be
in time for Sunday’s race.
“Chris and his crew have some work to do to find the
right feeling, and he is really struggling to get confidence
and grip in the fast corners. It’s going to be a case
of burning the midnight oil and making sure we’ve got
all the options covered to improve tomorrow, he certainly
has the ability to be a lot closer to the front.”
Alice Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Free Practice
Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’21.582: 2. Alex de Angelis
(Honda) +0.411: 3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.881: 4. Valentino
Rossi (Yamaha) +1.035: 5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +1.177: 12.
LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.692: 14. CHRIS VERMEULEN
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.829:
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