ROSSI LAUNCHES 200TH GRAND PRIX CHALLENGE AT DONINGTON
Valentino Rossi, who is scheduled to contest his 200th Grand
Prix on Sunday, got his weekend off to a solid start today
by finishing third overall in the first free practice sessions
at Donington Park. The 29-year-old Fiat Yamaha Team rider,
whose first ever 125cc race was back in 1996 at Shah Alam,
has an illustrious record at this circuit with eight wins
to his name, including two with Yamaha in 2004 and 2005.
Rossi started off steadily this morning, finishing the first
session in eighth as he struggled to perfect his set-up to
suit the tricky Donington surface. In the later stages of
the afternoon session the Bridgestone-shod Italian and his
crew improved things somewhat, finding a better setting which
gave them more grip and finishing the day third in the combined
standings, behind Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden.
Today marked a welcome return to action for Rossi’s
team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who was back on board for the first
time since his accident two week’s ago in Catalunya.
The Mallorcan took his first day back at work very gently
as he looked to build his confidence back up and ended the
day 16th in the combined standings.
Valentino Rossi
Position: 3rd Time: 1'28.909 Laps: 57
“This morning we were struggling and we’re not
in perfect shape yet. Fortunately however, this afternoon
on the last run things improved a lot and we are now third.
The main problem here is the asphalt because it doesn’t
have any grip anymore and riding on it is very difficult.
Of course the temperature was quite low, which didn’t
help, but in some parts of the track the asphalt is finished.
It’s a pity because this track is great, one of my favourites!
We have to hope that the weather stays dry because if it’s
wet it will be even worse. We have a couple of ideas to try
tomorrow; we will try some different tyres and also some other
solutions for the setting, in order to be faster in the direction
changes. We had a very long meeting after the session in order
to try to understand the problem, it’s very strange
because we used some tyres which are usually very good for
us, but here they don’t seem to work as they normally
do. Third position is okay however, we’re not so far
from the top and tomorrow we will try to make some more steps
forward.”
Davide Brivio
Team Manager
“We definitely improved this afternoon, as the times
show, but we still have a lot of work to do on a few things
specifically. Tomorrow we need to focus on improving the setting
still further to suit this track; the surface here isn’t
great and the lack of grip makes it quite difficult to find
the right set-up. We also need to do some more work on the
tyres with Bridgestone before we’re in a position to
make a choice. Luckily it was dry today so now we hope the
English weather is going to be kind to us again tomorrow so
that we can continue with what we started this afternoon.”
Combined Free Practice Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'28.253
2. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'28.829
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'28.909
4. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'28.969
5. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'28.992
6. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'29.207
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'29.207
8. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'29.341
9. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'29.410
10. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'29.433
11. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'29.441
12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'29.666
13. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'29.718
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'29.856
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'30.268
16. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'30.290
17. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'30.766
18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'30.931
Donington Park: Record Lap
D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'28.714
Donington Park: Best Lap
D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'27.676
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