MotoGP : Eventful first day for Gauloises Yamaha team at Motegi - September 16th 2005

1. Round: 12 - MotoGP Motegi
2. Circuit: Twin Ring
3. Weather: Dry
4. Circuit: Twin Ring
5. Circuit Length: 4801
6. Lap Record: 1' 48.524 (Makato Tamada, 2004)
7. Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 46.673 (Makato Tamada, 2004)
8. Temp: 34ºC

Gauloises Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards tackled the opening day of action at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit today as high temperatures and bright sunshine provided ideal track conditions for the first free practice sessions of the Grand Prix of Japan. Rossi was the fastest Michelin rider on a day otherwise dominated by local tyre manufacturer Bridgestone, the Italian just 0.054 seconds off lap record pace in the afternoon despite suffering from a gearbox problem in the morning session.

Colin Edwards also had a problematic first day at the difficult Japanese circuit, suffering only his second crash of the season in the morning and then struggling to regain confidence in the afternoon. Nevertheless the American ended the day having established a good feeling for the YZR-M1 machine and he is confident of making major progress with more time on the bike tomorrow.

With John Hopkins (Suzuki) setting the pace ahead of Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and Kenny Roberts (Suzuki), none of Rossi's championship rivals are ahead of him on today's time sheets as the Italian looks to seal his fifth consecutive title on Sunday.

This weekend the YZR-M1 introduces updated graphics in the form of newly designed 'speed bars' on the side of the fairing and other detailed changes. Observant fans will notice that the new speed bar design is very similar to that of the recently introduced and all-new YZF-R6.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 4th - 1'48.574;

"We had a gearbox problem this morning with one of the bikes not downshifting properly so we probably lost about 15 minutes of the session. Also, for the first time in some years, we are having difficulty with the tyres and we need to address that. Michelin have always worked very well for us and now they are working very hard to find a way forward. Taking that into consideration, fourth place is not so bad but we still have a lot to do. My rivals for the title are behind me but at the moment I am not thinking about that too much. My target for Sunday is to finish on the podium and then we'll have a look at where everybody else has finished. Motegi is not my favourite circuit but there are some sections that I like, such as the right-hander after the bridge."

Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 11th - 1'48.985;

"I've got no excuses for the crash, it was completely my fault. I got into the corner too hot. I ran about half a metre off line and lost the front end, trying to force it back into the corner. Thankfully I'm not used to crashing this season and you forget how fast these bikes are moving until you jump off! We lost a bit of time because of it and needed the afternoon to play with the setting and tyres, but it probably took me four or five laps to get my confidence back up. By that time I'd used the best part of the tyre and wasn't able to put a fast lap in at the end. We came here with the setting we found in the Brno test and it works great at this track. The only problem I had today was trying to keep the front wheel on the ground so we'll work on that and see what we can come up with tomorrow."

Davide Brivio - Gauloises Yamaha team director;

"As with many Fridays this season we have some work to do with both riders. We need to understand the bike setting and work hard with Michelin to try understand the tyres, and it is always hard to do both these things at the same time. Tonight we will analyse the data and the information that we have gathered so that we can come up with some solutions tomorrow - this is always the way on a Friday, it is what they are for! In that respect you could say it was just 'another day at the office' for us!"

Free Practice:

9. 1, J. Hopkins, Suzuki - 1' 47.952
10. 2, L. Capirossi, Ducati - 1' 48.053
11. 3, K. Roberts, Suzuki - 1' 48.263
12. 4, V. Rossi, Yamaha - 1' 48.574
13. 5, S. Gibernau, Honda - 1' 48.582
14. 6, A. Barros, Honda - 1' 48.620
15. 7, N. Hayden, Honda - 1' 48.646
16. 8, M. Biaggi, Honda - 1' 48.718
17. 9, C. Checa, Ducati - 1' 48.730
18. 10, M. Melandri, Honda - 1' 48.751
19. 11, M. Tamada, Honda - 1' 48.776
20. 12, C. Edwards, Yamaha - 1' 48.898
21. 13, T. Ukawa, Moriwaki - 1' 49.238
22. 14, A. Hofman, Kawasaki - 1' 49.504
23. 15, S. Nakano, Kawasaki - 1' 49.566
24. 16, T. Elias, Yamaha - 1' 49.584