- Round: 6 - 2006 MotoGP Mugello
- Circuit: Mugello
- Temp: 16ºC
- Weather: Changeable
- Round: 6 - 2006 MotoGP Mugello
- Circuit Length: 5245
- Lap Record: 1' 50.117 (Max Biaggi, 2005)
- Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 49.223 (Valentino Rossi, 2005)
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi kicked off his preparations for the Italian Grand Prix in positive fashion today as he set the fastest lap time in both of the opening free practice sessions of the weekend. After a dry morning practice, when the Italian topped the time sheets with a lap of 1'51.238, a heavy rain shower just before the afternoon session played havoc with the team's work programme, hindering Colin Edwards' adaptation to the new chassis and preventing either rider from improving their best times despite drying track conditions towards the end.It meant that Edwards was forced to settle for tenth place on the provisional time sheets but a more pressing issue for the Texan is the remaining set-up work to be done before Sunday's eagerly anticipated 23-lap race. The most likely scenario is that he will revert to the original chassis, used to excellent effect at Le Mans two weeks ago, before continuing development on the modified version with a view to the next race in
Catalunya. Rossi only completed eight laps in the afternoon but it was enough to fend off the close attentions of fellow local Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who was second fastest.
Valentino Rossi (1st - 1'51.238; 25 laps);
"We have had a good start to the weekend, especially this morning. Unfortunately the rain in the afternoon meant that we only got four good laps in but even in that short time we were able to see that the base setting of the bike is good. It is basically the same as the bike we had at Le Mans so I'm pleased to see it working well at such a different circuit. We still need to make some improvements to the setting but we are working in the right way and that is the most positive thing about today. We definitely need to work hard tomorrow but hopefully we can continue to improve. Now I just hope it doesn't rain, this is a very special race for all the Italians, both the riders and the people who come to watch, and we need the weather to be on our side!"
Colin Edwards (10th - 1'52.513; 34 laps);
"We've been playing around a little bit with the new chassis but I need more time in the dry to set it up before we can start to work with it properly. We didn't get enough of a chance at the Le Mans test because of the weather and it seems to have chased us over here. I don't want to have to start all over again in the morning so I think the best thing for us is to go back to what we know for tomorrow. It worked well for us in France and it seems ok here too so there is no point wasting time trying to use the new chassis here just for the sake of it. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us tomorrow so we can get through the set-up work we missed out on today and get ready for what promises to be a really tough but exciting race on Sunday."
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director;
"Today was not so bad, even though we had only one session in the dry, and Valentino was able to confirm that the bike he used so well in Le Mans is also working here. Unfortunately we haven't had enough time in the dry for Colin to make the adequate comparisons so it seems that the situation for tomorrow will be that our riders will be working in different directions. Anyway this is not such a problem because we know Colin is comfortable on the original chassis and worked well with it in France, so it is just a case of him concentrating on getting a good result here and waiting a little longer for his opportunity. Despite the weather it has been a good day, we've done a good job and in general we have made a promising start to what is an important weekend for us."
Dani Pedrosa, 40 laps, 209'80 Km: "Today I took it easy - very easy! But that was ok for my first day here on this bike. Tomorrow I have to push harder and try to get into more of a rhythm because the conditions were difficult today, especially this afternoon with the weather changing all the time. Still, we had a dry track which was good. The position is not so high but we are happy because I never looked to set a fast lap-time today. And we didn't touch the bike, I was just learning how to ride this bike on this circuit, which for sure is difficult on a MotoGP bike. The braking point at the end of the straight is quite impressive! So I have to adapt to the speeds and make steps little-by-little. I hope for better weather conditions tomorrow and we can really start moving forward."
Nicky Hayden, 46 laps, 241'27 Km: "This afternoon we made a bit of progress and closed the gap to the guys in front of me. I was fastest in T4 which is a good sign, but I need to improve in T2 which is my weakest section. It was a strange day with the weather which was frustrating for us because it's the first time I've been here, basically, on this version of the bike and I need all the dry track time I can get. We're working on the same things we've had for a few races now - trying to improve traction and edge grip and a few little clutch issues to get it smoother into the corners. Tomorrow we'll definitely try to make some big improvements. A good solid qualifying effort and race set-up is going to be important"
Loris Capirossi, 2nd fastest, 1m 51.599s;
"Today was another difficult day because of the conditions. When the weather is always changing you can't work effectively on bike set-up, and this is a tricky racetrack where you need the bike to be perfect from every point of view. But we started well today thanks to the work done here by our test rider Vittoriano Guareschi. He's done a great job, though today's conditions were very different from the conditions when he tested tyres here. It's much cooler now, which doesn't help. In general, things are going well. I was second quickest in both sessions so we are up front but we have a lot of tyres to test and I hope the weather gets better because I don't want too many things to test in a short space of time, because I like to work towards the race calmly. The weather forecast for tomorrow is better but you never know, so we must maintain our concentration because Sunday is going to be very tough with a lot of fast riders. I just hope I will be among them..."
Sete Gibernau, 3rd fastest, 1m 51.907s;
"As always, we are feeling very determined. I learned a lot about this bike at the first few races and one of the things we learned is that we need to ride as many laps as possible, so I can give my guys as much information as possible, so I stayed out this afternoon even when some spots of rain started falling. I think we've found a good direction with the bike and both the Ducati and my Bridgestone tyres are working pretty well here. This track has always been a difficult place for me, so I need many laps and I'm praying for good weather for the rest of the weekend. We made some good improvements to the bike when we tested after the race at Le Mans. It now turns better and it's better on corner entry, so the position of the bike, balance-wise, is much better, which means I feel more comfortable and confident into the turns."
Marco Melandri (1'52"339, 7th): "I'm satisfied with this first day of
tests. We've worked hard to improve the feeling with the front end and
today we had some more than positive feedback. The bike and the tyres
worked really well and alongside Michelin we started to make a few tests
which we will continue tomorrow. I'm feeling happy and motivated - it
will be a challenging but fun weekend here in front of the Italian
fans."
Toni Elias (1'52"789, 11th): "I really like the Mugello circuit and this
was my first time here on a MotoGP bike today. It is a challenging track
and I just worked to try and find the best lines. Unfortunately the
alternation between sunshine and rain didn't help with the set-up of the
bike. We need to do some more tests in the dry to understand thge bike
better and resolve some of the problems we had in the last race."
John Hopkins:
"It was a bit disappointing today really because we couldn't get done what we wanted to - set-up wise - because of the weather. This morning I tried to get a good feeling from the machine and work with the crew to get the best settings. I also needed to get into a rhythm myself as this is a difficult track. It's somewhere that you can't override the circuit or you can get really messed up. I've tried to smooth my style out and get the best from the bike. I felt good this afternoon but it started raining and there was not a whole lot we could do about that. We waited for the circuit to dry out and that meant we never got as many laps as we wanted. I set my best time on a Bridgestone race tyre at the end of the session that we had done quite a few laps on, so that is good for Sunday. I just hope that tomorrow is dry and we can work towards a good setting for Sunday's race."
Chris Vermeulen:
"I really enjoyed the track today. It's my first time here and it's a great racetrack to ride around. It has everything you want - from a rider's point of view. It has fast corners, slow corners, elevation changes, fast straights, in fact a bit of everything. It is difficult to learn though and has a few blind places. Unfortunately we didn't get a full dry session, but we did make a lot of improvements on the bike and I feel quite confident that we can make another step tomorrow."
Shinya Nakano: 10th - 1'52.667;
"Conditions were quite changeable this afternoon. It rained just before the start of practice, so we started on wet tyres, but the track dried very quickly allowing us to switch back to slicks after just ten minutes. My two bikes were set-up quite differently this afternoon, with a new fairing and a new rear shock on one of them, so our main aim during practice was to run some back-to-back comparison tests. The conditions didn't really help with the comparison, because we had light rain on and off throughout the session, but I think we have found the direction we need to take with the set-up for tomorrow. We also tested a couple of different rear tyres from Bridgestone, but again, the conditions weren't ideal and I think we will leave any decision about race tyres until we've had a chance to do more laps during practice and qualifying tomorrow. It's always difficult coming back to such a fast track after a year away; you need to recalibrate your brain and reacquaint yourself with the all-important braking markers. But, once you've done this, it's an enjoyable track to race at."
Randy de Puniet: 14th - 1'53.129;
"Both the morning and afternoon sessions were good, despite the constantly changing conditions making consistency difficult to achieve during the second session. But then the conditions were the same for everyone, and I'm happy enough with what we've achieved this afternoon. I was losing a little time through the final sector this morning, but we tried a few different lines this afternoon and I think that with a few more laps tomorrow I should be able to improve my speed through the final turn. Overall I feel comfortable on the bike, we won't make so many changes overnight, and although I'm down in 14th place on the timesheet, we're only just over a second from pole position. More importantly, I'm confident that tomorrow we can close the gap on pole position even further. I like this track. It's definitely one of the best circuits we race at, and it's a real pleasure to ride the Ninja ZX-RR here."
Makoto Tamada - Konica Minolta Honda Rider;
"It has not been easy to face the first practice session of the Italian GP with such weather conditions.. The intermittent rain showers did not permitted us to work constantly to the definition of the right setting to be used in Sunday's race.
Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied of my today's performance during which I realized that the feeling with my Honda RC211V is more and more improving.
I hope for better weather conditions tomorrow assuring a qualifying practice on dry conditions. If it'll stay dry I can make a strong showing. "
Alex Hofmann #66 (16th - 1'54.103): "The weather conditions were changing too much and didn't help, they didn't allow us to finish the work we had programmed. We tested a couple of new tyres, but there is a lot of work left to do. For the moment, I'm not much satisfied, I hope that tomorrow the track will be dry during both practice sessions, so we will have the chance to make other test and find the best setting for the race. I hope to conquest a good result in front of all our sponsors, partners and numerous fans and friends. It's our home race and it's important to make a good result here in Italy".
Jose Luis Cardoso #30 (19th - 1'55.637): "Today we concentrated ourselves on the tyres, we had some new slick ones to test. Unfortunately, the weather instability didn't allow us to work in an adequate manner; the meteorological conditions were changing too often. A real pity because we needed to work a lot, the development of the tyres demands a great effort and we hope that the weather will be fine tomorrow, so to be able to ride on a dry track and get the maximum from the last two practice sessions. It's important to find a good set-up that adapts itself to our tyres, for the race on Sunday. I like this track a lot and I really would like to obtain a good result here, in front of all our sponsors".
Session 1 :
- 1. V. Rossi, Yamaha (ITA) 1' 51.732
- 2. L. Capirossi, Ducati (ITA) 1' 51.756
- 3. S. Gibernau, Ducati (ESP) 1' 52.012
- 4. J. Hopkins, Suzuki (USA) 1' 52.082
- 5. C. Stoner, Honda (AUS) 1' 52.101
- 6. N. Hayden, Honda (USA) 1' 52.177
- 7. M. Melandri, Honda (ITA) 1' 52.339
- 8. K. Roberts, Team Roberts KR (USA) 1' 52.350
- 9. M. Tamada, Honda (JPN) 1' 52.466
- 10. S. Nakano, Kawasaki (JPN) 1' 52.667
- 11. T. Elias, Honda (ESP) 1' 52.789
- 12. D. Pedrosa, Honda (ESP) 1' 52.819
- 13. C. Edwards, Yamaha (USA) 1' 52.830
- 14. R. De Puniet, Kawasaki (FRA) 1' 53.129
- 15. C. Checa, Yamaha (ESP) 1' 53.453
- 16. A. Hofmann, Ducati (GER) 1' 54.103
- 18. J. Ellison, Yamaha (GBR) 1' 55.354
