Fantastic fifth for Capirossi at Jerez
Loris Capirossi raced his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R to a brilliant
fifth place at today’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.
 Starting
from 10th on the grid, Capirossi got a great start and was
up to seventh at the end of lap one. He picked up another
couple of places on lap three before settling into a strong
and consistent race pace. Suzuki’s new Italian star
came under pressure during the latter part of the race and
was relegated back to seventh, but he used all his experience
to fight back on the last lap and overtake James Toseland
and Andrea Dovizioso on the final corner, a result that gives
Suzuki its best finish from a MotoGP race at Jerez since the
introduction of the four-stroke regulations.
Chris Vermeulen had an equally eventful race as he tried
to make up from starting 12th on the grid. He battled his
way through the field to seventh and was catching the riders
in front of him, but as grip became a problem he was caught
by Toseland, who put in a very strong pass on Vermeulen resulting
in the Australian’s leather suit being ripped on the
upper arm! Vermeulen tried to fight back put had to settle
for 10th place and score his first points of the 2008 season.
Today’s race was held in sunny conditions with the
air temperature reaching a pleasant 19ºC and was watched
by over 131,000 fans at trackside. The colourful and partisan
crowd were treated to a victory by Spain’s Dani Pedrosa
on his factory Honda.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will now remain at Jerez for a further
two days of testing before moving on to the third round of
the MotoGP World Championship at Estoril in Portugal on Sunday
13th April.
Loris Capirossi:
“First of all I really want to say thank-you and well
done to the whole team because they have all made a great
effort for me and everybody stayed focused. We didn’t
start the season in the best place and now we have come back
a little bit, but we must continue to work in that way. Fifth
position is not the best for us because our target is different,
but at the moment it is not too bad. I had to fight to get
through and I started really aggressive because I knew the
Bridgestone tyres would work well at the beginning and I tried
to stay with top guys, but as the tyre started to wear I had
to defend my position. In the last couple of laps I fought
with Toseland and Dovizioso, but I beat both of them in the
last corner. That was for sure nice for me!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“It was another tough race at Jerez, for the second
year in a row! I qualified a fair way back and gave myself
a lot of work to do. I didn’t get a good start but I
had a couple of really strong laps and got past a few guys.
I felt quite strong, the bike was working well and my pace
was good early on. By about lap eight I got through to seventh
and I was catching fifth and sixth – they were right
there in front of me – and things felt really good.
Towards the end of the race my rear tyre grip really dropped
off and I now think that perhaps we chose a too soft compound
and it really suffered in the last few laps. I really struggled
and the bike wouldn’t turn or get enough grip to lean
it over far enough. We will learn from that and go with a
harder compound next time. I’d like to thank all my
guys for their hard work this weekend. We are finally on the
scoreboard with some points and I’m already looking
forward to Estoril.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It is no secret that we had a tough pre-season and
first event in Qatar, but today’s result - a fifth for
Loris and both bikes inside the top 10 - gives us hope that
we can come back to a seriously competitive level. Loris justified
today all the reasons why we wanted to bring him to Suzuki.
He has helped us a lot with the bike and the future development
of the GSV-R. Most importantly it is clear that his aggression
level, his will to win and to get the best result possible
under any circumstances is the same as it was when he was
18 years old!
“Chris admits that he made an incorrect gamble on the
rear tyre choice, but we do thank Bridgestone for the flexibility
on allowing him to make that choice, because it may have worked
out better for him. From 12th on the grid he had to try something
to get to the front group, but unfortunately it didn’t
work out.
“The crew and both riders are now looking forward to
the next two days here in Jerez and to take the good base
that we now have, and work on the details to give the riders
an increasingly competitive package for Estoril and the races
beyond!”
Gran Premio bwin.com De Espana Race Classification:
1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 45’35.121: 2. Valentino Rossi
(Yamaha) +2.883: 3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +4.339: 4. Nicky
Hayden (Honda) +10.142: 5. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
+27.542: 10. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +35.091:
World Championship Classification:
1. Pedrosa 41: Lorenzo 36: 3. Rossi 31: 4. Casey Stoner (Ducati)
30: 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 21: 8. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) 18: 14. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP)
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