YAMAHA ON THE PACE AT SACHSENRING
16 July 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa made an early positive mark on the Sachsenring Grand Prix by securing third and eighth best times respectively in this afternoon’s first qualifying session, with Rossi already under the previous track best.

Fellow Yamaha rider Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) was also showing early promise by splitting the factory pair with a sixth fastest time. A close one-hour competition against the stopwatch saw 13 riders within one second of the provisional pole time and six riders quicker than the previous track best time.

Rossi’s best first day lap of 1’23.539 was only 0.292 from fastest man Sete Gibernau (Honda,1’23.247) and a mere 0.086s slower than second place rider, Nicky Hayden (Honda, 1’23.453). Melandri had an eye problem that required medical attention just before the hour-long session, and although a foreign body was removed from his right eye, the Italian was still suffering as he rode. Despite this nuisance Marco still put his YZR M-1 on the second row with a 1’23.692. Meanwhile Checa (1’23.831), still working through settings to handle the combination of slow and dazzlingly fast corners, was well in touch with the fastest lappers, only 0.584 from provisional pole.

Buoyed by his strong showing in Rio, where he finished eighth, Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3, 1’24.151) is continuing to make progress. The Japanese is determined to nail down a good grid position and a provisional 13th, although shy of the front rows, is a solid base to build on.

At the closing stages, just after the extra sticky qualifying tyres were broken out, with just less than ten minutes left to run, Checa posted the second quickest time. But an immediate response from Sete Gibernau put his Honda on provisional pole. As the final minutes began to tick past Melandri pushed Rossi to third and Checa to fourth, packing the sharp end of the grid with Yamahas for a period.

Rossi hit back, with his best time coming on his penultimate lap, but Nicky Haden went faster again and eased Rossi out to third. With the weather forecast for tomorrow showing improved temperatures the final hour of qualifying may yet prove to be the decisive one.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), third – 1’23.539
''We worked with qualifiers this afternoon but only for a short time. I’m feeling a lot better here; all the riders are very close and pretty fast. Sete set a good time but we are not far behind. We made some small changes and I think tomorrow I can do even better on the qualifiers. The bike told me she likes this track! We’re on course, especially considering the last race. I need to make up time on the last and second to last corners and this is one of the more difficult circuits to pass at, so it will be very important to get a good qualifying position tomorrow.''

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), eighth – 1’23.831
''I feel quite comfortable on the bike but on old tyres I am struggling a little, not quite able to keep the pace. That will be our work tomorrow, having got some confidence. There are some areas to improve. The slow part of this track is maybe too slow but the rest is better for our bikes. When the set-up is okay then the feeling even in the slow area is not too bad. For the slower part maybe we need either a 125cc bike or 100bhp less! It is nice when you have a mix of slower and faster tracks and it is good fun to ride here anyway.''

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
''For a first day package we are in a good situation, better than the last race. Valentino has a nice pace around here and he is in good shape. Carlos is a little bit slower but still at a reasonable pace on race tyres. We have a strong base setting now but we need to work more on the details – suspension settings for the most part. Valentino stayed out for many laps at one point to evaluate the performance of a possible race tyre. Carlos was very fast on T1 and T2 on qualifying tyres but lost a bit of time in the second part of the track. This bike seems to suit this track well and it is difficult to make an evaluation of this session based on the results because at the end, when people started to use soft tyres, the situation changed completely.”

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), sixth – 1’23.692
“A difficult day – lots of trouble. I got something in my eye before the session and Doctor Costa had to spray some liquid in it to get rid of whatever it was, maybe an insect or something. It’s still not right yet. But we also have more work to do on set-up. I can go quick on a qualifying tyre, but the race set-up is another matter. The bike’s still very nervous and it’s hard to open the throttle early. My position so far is okay, but there’s more to come.”

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), 13th – 1’24.151
“Compared to most other tracks so far, I already have much better feel from the bike. Although I’m about nine tenths of a second off the pole time, it’s not too bad for this stage of qualifying. We’re still trying to find more rear grip and we should be able to fix that tomorrow. Until we solve that it’s hard to go much faster.”

Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 team director
“Good, although it’s only day one. It’s a lot better than Rio already. We knew the Yamahas would be better here, although you can never be sure with everyone so close this year. This morning Marco was not comfortable but the team did a great job for this afternoon and he was quick on his qualifying tyres. He’s still a few tenths away from Valentino’s time (1’23.539) but we are optimistic because he loves this track. Norick is building on his Rio form and his average pace is quick here. He’s getting a good rhythm and he likes this track too.”

Round: 8 - Veltins MotoGP Germany
Circuit: Sachsenring
Circuit Length: 3671
Lap Record: 1'' 24.630 (Max Biaggi, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 23.734 (Max Biaggi, 2003)
Date: 16 July 2004
Temp: 23ºC

Session 1 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying
1 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 23.247
2 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 23.453
3 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 23.539
4 A. Barros Honda BRA 1'' 23.625
5 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 1'' 23.684
6 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA 1'' 23.692
7 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'' 23.753
8 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1'' 23.831
9 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1'' 23.884
10 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 24.061
11 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 24.096
12 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'' 24.122
13 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1'' 24.151
14 J. McWilliams Aprilia GBR 1'' 24.322
15 C. Edwards Honda USA 1'' 24.416

www.yamaha-racing.com

More News
  For July 2004
  From Yamaha Racing
  For Racing General
  Biker247.com Home Page