- Round: 3 - 2006 MotoGP Turkey
- Circuit: Istanbul
- Weather: Dry
- Circuit Length: 5378
- Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005)
- Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005)
- Temp: 20ºC
Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards spent the first day of practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey gathering important set-up data after encountering different track conditions to those they enjoyed here season. With this year's event taking place some six months earlier than the inaugural race here last October, overcast skies contributed to cool ambient temperatures of 20ºC and produced low grip levels on track, where Nicky Hayden (Honda) set the free practice pace with a best lap of 1'53.623.
Rossi adapted swiftly to the conditions in the morning and set the third fastest time of the opening practice, but he struggled to make any significant improvements in the afternoon and ended up eleventh on the overall time sheets. Edwards, meanwhile, was sixth fastest in both sessions - improving his lap time in the afternoon by 1.4 seconds. With plenty of work still to do the only worry for the riders now is the threat of rain, with dark clouds hovering over the circuit and local forecasts predicting a downfall tomorrow.
Colin Edwards (1'54.042, 38 laps);
"We started out with the base setting from Qatar but it didn't work very well for us here. Basically we then decided to go with a newer front tyre than the one we've been using in testing and it went much better. Combined with a few tweaks to the suspension I built up my confidence in the front and I was able to lay down some good lap times. In the end we put a pretty consistent run together and I'm happy. We're still getting some vibrations but it's only in a couple of corners and we can work around them with more time on the bike tomorrow; hopefully it will stay dry. The track was really dirty this morning but it started to clean up in the afternoon. If it stays dry then the grip should improve as the weekend goes on, but they're saying it might rain so I guess we'll have to wait and see."
Valentino Rossi (1'54.662, 43 laps);
"This morning we were fast straight away and this was quite encouraging. We were third and we thought that we would be able to continue in this way during the afternoon. However we made some modifications in order to improve the acceleration and unfortunately we lost a lot of grip in braking. In fact our lap times were more or less the same in the afternoon but the track was about half a second faster - this morning it was quite dirty - and now we are in 11th place. I am a bit worried but also quite positive because we made some changes at the end of the session, back towards this morning's settings, and we improved a lot and set our fastest lap of the day. So far we don't have any vibration and so we hope that it won't appear tomorrow if the grip improves."
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director;
"In the morning things went well for Valentino and in the afternoon they went well for Colin so you could say we had a balanced day! The good news is that we have been able to work as we would on a normal weekend, without the distractions caused by the problems we experienced in the first race. We collected a lot of good information today that we can put to use tomorrow and find a way forward with the set-up of the bikes. The only question mark is the rain so the only thing we ask for is at least a few dry laps so that we can evaluate the solutions we come up with tonight. Valentino lost his feeling a little bit this afternoon but we will compare the data from the whole day and find the best way to work tomorrow."
Opening day brings highs and lows for Tech 3 Yamaha Team in Turkey;
The opening day of the third Grand Prix of 2006 at the sensational Istanbul Park circuit proved challenging for Tech 3 Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and James Ellison, and the pair finished the day 16th and 17th respectively after the two Free Practice sessions.
Despite some set-up troubles, both riders however found some positive aspects from the day and Checa is happy to be almost fully fit again after an injury affected the start of his campaign. The Spaniard is now in a determined frame of mind to get back to the sterling performances he exhibited in pre-season testing. Ellison, meanwhile, showed that he is becoming more comfortable with the Yamaha YZR-M1 as his times get closer to his more experienced team-mate at every outing.
Carlos Checa (1'56.838, 42 laps);
"Today wasn't the best day. We've been testing the front tyres for a different setting but nothing seems to make a big difference to our times. Hopefully we will find a good direction for tomorrow, especially in the fast areas of the track. We are having a bit of trouble with the grip from the rear, but it seems to be the same for everyone. The Dunlop people are working hard to give us what we desire and every race the tyres are improving. It is only early in the season so I believe it won't be too long before we are a lot closer. I am confident working with Dunlop and hopefully we can get better tyres as soon as possible. My shoulder has improved so much since Qatar which is encouraging, although I still do not have full strength, especially under hard braking."
James Ellison (1'56.943, 40 laps);
"Today hasn't been too bad to be honest, although it hasn't been as good as we had hoped. We have made steady progress as we're tweaking things here and there. It's a completely different circuit to Qatar so we have a lot to work on but we'll make a few changes to improve the balance. I love this circuit. It is one of my favourite tracks, along with Laguna Seca and Phillip Island, so that helps when it comes to getting things done. With the layout, it has a bit of everything - especially the fast right hander. Doing nearly 300km/h with your knee on the deck and the bike moving underneath you is something very special. Hopefully tomorrow we can make some more progress with our race set-up and set some faster times."
Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director;
"Today was not easy in places. The position on the sheets isn't too important but we have to find some solutions. Carlos has almost recovered from the physical problem at Qatar with his left shoulder, which is encouraging, but we're still not at our full potential. We are quite happy with what is happening with Dunlop and they are working hard. They are listening and bringing new products to every race but at the end of the day we are fighting with two other brands that have been here much, much longer than Dunlop. There are also a lot more riders that can give them feedback and more data to work with. We knew this before we started the season, but we have confidence in Dunlop's capacity. It is only the third race and they have come from nowhere in MotoGP because it the first year for them with a factory machine. We are really not that far away and we will continue fighting. Tomorrow is another day and hopefully we will be in a better position for the race, come Sunday."
Qualifying Session 1:
- 1. N. Hayden, Honda - 1' 53.623
- 2. C. Stoner, Honda - 1' 53.861
- 3. M. Melandri, Honda - 1' 53.971
- 4. D. Pedrosa, Honda - 1' 54.001
- 5. T. Elias, Honda - 1' 54.022
- 6. C. Edwards, Yamaha - 1' 54.042
- 7. L. Capirossi, Ducati - 1' 54.055
- 8. J. Hopkins, Suzuki - 1' 54.277
- 9. S. Gibernau, Ducati - 1' 54.279
- 10. M. Tamada, Honda - 1' 54.422
- 11. V. Rossi, Yamaha - 1' 54.662
- 12. C. Vermeulen, Suzuki - 1' 54.722
- 13. S. Nakano, Kawasaki - 1' 54.967
- 14. K. Roberts, Team Roberts KR - 1' 55.179
- 15. R. De Puniet, Kawasaki - 1' 55.700
- 16. C. Checa, Yamaha - 1' 56.838
- 17. J. Ellison, Yamaha - 1' 56.943
Nicky Hayden, 49 laps, 261'66 Km: "The feeling on the first day is pretty positive. Overall we made some nice progress from the morning to the afternoon which I'm happy about because that's something we didn't do at Qatar - improve as we went on. It's still early and we had a few little problems through the session with my number one bike and I had to kinda jump from one to the other at the end. We still need to find some improvements because we're still hurting a little bit on edge grip and the track seems pretty slippery to me. We're trying to find some traction and to get a little bit more stability on the brakes. It's a tough track with a lot of elevation changes and some of the paint's slippery in places so you've got to be on your toes around here. And we'll have to see what the weather's going to do - it doesn't look real pretty tomorrow. It's nice to be at the top of the timesheets, but it's still early - we'll see what happens tomorrow."
Dani Pedrosa, 46 laps, 245'64 Km: "Well at the beginning of the day we had a problem with the electronics and we lost some time, but really this was a normal first day, trying to get used to the track on a new bike for me, getting the right gearing, learning the braking points. I made many mistakes while I was doing this today! In the afternoon we started to test some tyres and get some information for qualifying and the race. When I was pushing hard towards the end of the session I had oil flags in the last two minutes and I had to slow down, so I couldn't improve my lap times right at the end. The best thing though is that we are getting closer to the front from the beginning of the weekend, so I'm happy with how today went."
Loris Capirossi, 7th fastest, 1m 54.055s;
"I'm happy. This is my first time here but my team and my engineers gave
me telemetry from last year which I studied at home, so I just had to
learn where to put my wheels. It's a nice track, very up and down and
with many changes of direction where the track suddenly drops away. It
looked easy on paper but in reality it's more complicated! Anyway, I
like it and quickly got into it. We already made some setting changes
and tried some tyres. Tomorrow we'll keep on working and, of course, I
can improve. It's impossible to learn the track well enough in two hours
to be fastest.
"The tarmac is quite slippery, so we are working hard with Bridgestone
and hoping it won't rain tomorrow because that will make things very
hard for us if it's dry on Sunday. I'm very close to the front, one
tenth faster and I'd be third, I lost some time going into the last turn
a bit too fast. Anyway, I'm happy and I'm convinced we can be
competitive on Sunday.
"Before coming here I thought the first and the third corners would be
the most difficult, I was wrong about the first but the third, which
comes after a fast right, where you need to change direction while going
down a steep hill, really is hard. The most difficult point is the
triple lefthander, it's bumpy and so fast that's easy to make a mistake
and lose half a second."
Sete Ginernau, 9th fastest, 1m 54.279s;
"That wasn't so bad, we're all very close, mostly within half a second.
We're trying to find a good balance and I think everyone in the team, at
Ducati and at Bridgestone has done a good job today. We're fast in some
sections, we're just losing a bit in the areas where there's hard
braking. We tried two different directions today and I think we've now
found a good direction, so all we need to do is put everything together
and get out there and do some laps. But it looks like there could be
some rain tomorrow, so that could make it difficult for everyone because
we definitely need more dry laps."
Marco Melandri (1'53"971, 3rd);
"I am very happy. I have finally
rediscovered my feeling with the bike and am enjoying myself again. The
test in Qatar allowed us to find a good base to work from which has
really helped us. I like the Turkish circuit and feel comfortable here
although there is still room for us to improve. I have found a good
rhythm but still have to improve on coming out of the corners where I'm
lacking a bit of traction. Tomorrow, depending on conditions, we will
try some different Michelin tyres with a view to Sunday's race."
Toni Elias (1'54"022, 5th );
"I am satisfied with our work today. We
made some small changes to the set-up we found in Qatar and they worked
perfectly. In the morning the track was really dirty and so we made the
changes in the afternoon. I had a good rhythm throughout the day and am
just 0.39 seconds behind the leading Honda of Nicky Hayden. I hope to
learn from the first two races of the season and put in a good showing
here."
Shinya Nakano: 13th - 1'55.803"We have similar problem here as we had in Qatar in that I'm losing time accelerating out of the turns, especially the slow corners. I just can't seem to find traction at the rear. I can match everyone else down the straights and on the brakes, but I lose ground as soon as we're out of the turn and back on the gas. We also have some issues with getting the bike turned, which is again more noticeable around the slower corners. We need to look a little more closely at the set-up of both the chassis and the engine tonight to try and alleviate these problems ready for tomorrow. I'm enjoying being back on the bike, I like racing at this circuit, and I'm confident we can improve during tomorrows practice and qualifying sessions."
Randy de Puniet: 15th - 1'56.959"Although the lap time isn't what I was hoping for, today has not been so bad for me. My main problem is the fact that I'm losing so much time through the last split, especially around the chicane complex right at the end of the lap. We tried a few changes with the bike this afternoon, and I've tried a few different lines through these slow turns, but we've yet to see an improvement. We will concentrate on this again tomorrow, when my target is to close to within one second of the leading riders."
Makoto Tamada - KONICA MINOLTA Honda Rider;
"Just from this morning free practice session, I realized that the feeling with the bike was absolutely better in respect to Qatar. Today, during the first free practice session, we defined a good RC211V balance; in the second session we have only made some setting adjustments and we dedicated most of the time to test tyres trying to find the best solution for the race. Michelin brought new material to Istanbul and I can say that I had a good feeling especially with the front tyre. Tomorrow I'll do my best to find the ideal lines to be very fast during the 22 laps of the race. I'm determined to approach this week end convinced to do well."
Alex Hofmann #66 (18th - 1'57''467);
"It was my first time on this circuit, I must say that it was constructed very well, there are corners of every type, up-and-downs, and slow and fast parts as well; on the riding side, you really enjoy it a lot! The weather was also nice today, there was some wind but not as much as in Qatar, so we're used to these conditions. About the set-up, we received some new tyres made for our motorcycle and they satisfied us more. The fact is that, with more grip on the rear, we must completely review the set-up of the bike, we must work to find a good balance between the front and the rear. Anyway, to know in which direction we need to work is surely a positive thing. Tomorrow we will make the maximum to find the solutions that will allow us to face the Sunday race in the best manner".
Jose Luis Cardoso #30 (19th - 1'58''007): "We made a lot of test on the tyres: on the front we continue to have quite good sensations but we still need to find a rear tyre more adapted. This circuit is difficult but I like it, there are a lot of blind corners and the track is really nice. The last part is quite complicated but it's alright, this is the same thing for everybody. I want to concentrate myself on the set-up of the bike to obtain a good result, the whole Team deserves it and tomorrow we will work for this".
