MotoGP Rd 4: Gibernau close but Rossi again
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Image Gallery ( 27 images )Marco Melandri, Movistar Honda Moto GP, fourth: “We suffered a loot at the start of the race but from there on I managed to set a good pace and I’m satisfied with this result. The warm-up didn’t help with the tyre choice because the track was quite damp and I think I chose a compound that was a little too hard for me. It was only my second dry race of the season and we gathered a lot of important information. We’ll have to work hard during the test tomorrow to improve our performance in the first part of the race”.
Max Biaggi, Repsol Honda Team, fifth: “A very, very hard race. After the warm-up crash I didn’t think I could race. The pain never left me. When I put on my leathers my back was in such a bad condition that I never thought I could make it to the chequered flag. Then, adrenaline and my big desire to do good gave me an incredible fuel. Anyhow at the end of the race I almost couldn’t get off the bike. After this I can only be happy about this fifth place: these are 11 important points for me and my team. Our job starts again from tomorrow. There is a lot to do to come back competitive in time for the Italian Grand Prix.”
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda Team, sixth: “Just really, really disappointed! I got a good start and it all felt great but about 10 laps from the end it started to feel like last week in the rain. I got a lot of chatter as the race went on. We don’t really know why. We need to find out! It’s a pretty lame excuse but the bottom line is I just went backwards. It’s been a hard weekend but I felt we were in with a chance after all the great work the team put in. It felt good to be running up front but I want to do that all race. I’m not looking forward to a three-week break now. I just want Mugello to come next weekend!”
Loris Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro, seventh: "I had a fantastic start! After that I found that I could easily stay with the leaders, the bike was working really well, so it seemed like my Desmosedici could fight for a podium finish. But from lap ten onwards I needed more rear traction, so I had to ease my pace. It's not been easy here because we only had one fully dry session, so I wasn't able to try so many tyres. I chose the same tyre that worked so well during my ten-lap endurance run yesterday afternoon. Of course, I'm not happy with seventh, but I am happy that we were strong for ten laps. Our relationship with Bridgestone has only just started, we're improving step by step."
Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo: "This was a complicated weekend because the weather changed every session - sometimes wet, sometimes dry, sometimes in between - which made it difficult to work on tyre choice. We are still in the early stages of our relationship with Bridgestone, we are on a learning curve, and we learned a lot today, our second dry race with them. Carlos chose a tyre with a more durable compound, so it's a shame we couldn't verify its performance over race distance. Loris was able to run with the leaders early on, which was good, it shows that we have a good package. Now we just need to continue working at making the tyres even better. We are looking forward to Mugello."
Shinya Nakano, Team Kawasaki, Eighth: "My start was fast, I had a good feeling and tyre grip in the early laps and I felt comfortable. But for some laps I had trouble into turn one judging my braking point, I wasn't as fast as I usually am in this part of the track. Then, when my good feeling returned, I felt a small misfire with the engine and immediately thought that I must try and finish the race; I didn't score any points in China two weeks ago, so this was very important."
Toni Elias, Fortuna Yamaha Team, ninth: "The crash that happened in the first chicane lost me a fair bit of ground because I had to avoid Carlos, who was on the ground in front of me. After that I managed to latch onto the second group and from then on I could stay with them, but the first group were already gone - their pace was that high! I was trying to make up some of the lost ground but I had to ride past my limit to do so and I didn't fell comfortable doing that, especially as the track wasn't offering the same grip as yesterday. We are testing here tomorrow and I am sure it will prove very valuable for or Mugello preparations."
Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda, tenth: “I’m happy to have finished the race, to have had a good battle with Olivier Jacque and to have beaten him. Of course, there is still ground to be made up, because I’m still not comfortable on the bike, not as I need to be to ride at the limit anyway. I did my fastest lap on the last one, so there is obviously room for improvement as regards set-up. So I’m happy to stay behind to test tomorrow, I want to try and get the most possible out of the session.”
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