Vermeulen on top in the wet, Capirossi second in the dry
 Chris
Vermeulen showed his wet weather skills to the full again
today as he rode his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R to the top of the
time-sheets at a rain-sodden Mugello in Italy.
Vermeulen put in consistently fast laps during the full wet
afternoon session to record a time over half-a-second quicker
than his nearest rival. He had showed his intentions in the
morning session – which started wet but dried out later
on – as he also topped the classification early on.
Towards the end of the session Vermeulen was able to get out
on the 5.2km Italian circuit on slick race tyres to get some
valuable data in readiness for Sunday’s race, and registered
the seventh fastest time.
Loris Capirossi was making his home debut onboard a Suzuki
and didn’t disappoint the Italian fans as he set one
of the quickest times of the day in the drying morning session.
He headed the time-sheets right until the final seconds before
being pushed into second place by John Hopkins on his factory
Kawasaki.
Capirossi also looked comfortable in the full wet conditions
and recorded some competitive times on his Rizla Suzuki. Even
a fall later on couldn’t dampen the Italian’s
spirits as he now gets ready to attack on race day in front
of the vibrant Mugello fans expected on Sunday.
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has one more free practice session tomorrow
morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon
to decide grid positions for Sunday’s 23-lap race. The
main event on Sunday gets underway at 14.00hrs local time
(12.00hrs GMT), when both Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers will
be going for glory.
Loris Capirossi:
“I am very happy today as we now understand a bit more
about the bike in these types of conditions. When it was really
wet I went well and felt good. I made one mistake today and
went straight on, but that was just one of those things that
can happen in those conditions. I think we have started the
weekend for Mugello in a good way and are quite optimistic.
We just hope we have good weather tomorrow so we can get the
bike set-up for here. I want to say a big thank-you to all
the team because they are all still working so hard to make
it happen!”
Chris Vermeulen:
“It was quite difficult here with the weather today
at Mugello. This morning it dried out and at the end of the
session I was able to go out on slicks, which was good for
me as I am still learning a lot about this track. Unfortunately
it was still wet in places and that made it difficult to go
too quick, but I do feel like I know the circuit again. This
afternoon was completely wet and at the start of the session
it was a bit dangerous as there was so much water on the track.
It stopped raining though and the standing water ran off and
the surface became very consistent. I am obviously very happy
with the way the bike performed in the wet and I hope it is
dry tomorrow so we can try to do the same as we have done
today!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It is a pleasure to be back in Mugello, the race-track
and the setting is just amazing, and with Loris in the team
we now feel a little bit ‘Italian’! The only drawback
here has been the ‘English’ weather today which
has spoilt everyone’s preparations, but having said
that we have to be happy with the commitment shown by both
riders. Loris was second quickest in the half-wet half-dry
session this morning and then Chris dominated the fully wet
session this afternoon. As with all the other teams we have
no idea how these results will translate into Sunday’s
race – unless it’s raining – and if it continues
like this tomorrow and dries up for Sunday, the race could
be a bit of a lottery as nobody will have the correct data
and settings. We have two very motivated riders and the small
improvements we made in Le Mans have already translated well
to the Mugello circuit, so we are certainly looking forward
to building on today’s good progress.”
Gran Premio D’Italia Alice Free Practice Combined
Classification:
1. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 1’54.053: 2. LORIS CAPIROSSI
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.467: 3. Anthony West (Kawasaki) +0.968:
4. Alex de Angelis (Honda) +1.088: 5. Shinya Nakano (Honda)
+1.475: 7. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.721:
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