NAKANO AND HOFMANN STRUGGLE FOR GRIP AT COOL DONINGTON
22 July 2005 - Kawasaki Racing

Kawasaki riders Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann struggled to come to grips with a day of dismal summer weather, and the Donington circuit, in today''s opening free practice sessions.

Cool and heavily overcast conditions dominated proceedings, with the afternoon practice session interrupted by rain showers that restricted track time.

This has left Kawasaki technicians with a number of set-up issues to solve during tomorrow''s final day of practice and qualifying in advance of Sunday''s 30-lap race.

Improving rear grip and tyre endurance on the Ninja ZX-RR for the unique, two-part layout of the four-kilometre Donington circuit is the primary focus.

Other areas of interest are engine brake settings for Donington''s combination of fast flowing sections and three dead-stop hairpins turns, plus the chassis and suspension balance to cope with these conditions.

Both Nakano and Hofmann spent much of the afternoon session in the garage as rain showers made conditions slippery.

However, both riders were able to improve their times from the morning session, in which an ideal set-up and tyre grip proved elusive for both Nakano and Hofmann.

Hofmann ended the day 13th fastest overall while Nakano was just 0.3s slower in 16th place.

Both riders and technicians are hoping for a day of stable weather for tomorrow''s practice and qualifying sessions to make up for lost time.

Alex Hofmann: #66 - Thirteen - 1''31.680
''Another enjoyable day of typical English weather! In any case it was as an important day, because we struggled at this track last year and it was important to gather information. We still have a lot of things to try to make sure we have a set-up that will allow 30 fast laps on Sunday - there are no points for being able to do just a couple of quick laps. We need a dry day tomorrow to find better rear grip and balance.''

Shinya Nakano: # 56 - Sixteen - 1''31.989
''The weather was very strange today, it wasn''t completely wet or dry in the afternoon and this made it difficult to find an ideal set-up. The bike was much better in the afternoon, but I am still looking for more rear grip, I have a lot of spinning, and also our engine brake settings are still not perfect here. But the Ninja ZX-RR is much better in the final slow part of the track than last year, so we are making progress. We still have a lot to do tomorrow, I hope the weather is much better.''

Ichiro Yoda: Technical Director
''Rear grip and race tyre endurance is our main consideration. The right side of the tyre carries a heavy load here and we lost a lot of set-up time this afternoon to evaluate tyres, chassis and engine settings for the race. We have a lot of work to do to find an ideal set-up for 30 laps at this track.''

FREE PRACTICE - COMBINED TIMES
1. Colin Edwards (USA) Gauloises Yamaha Team 1''29.960; 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Gauloises Yamaha Team +0.025; 3. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.138; 4. Alex Barros (BRA) Camel Honda +0.158; 5. Marco Melandri (ITA) Movistar Honda MotoGP +0.348; 6. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Movistar Honda MotoGP +0.438; 7. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.534; 8. Troy Bayliss (AUS) Camel Honda +0.601; 9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda +0.620; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.637; 11. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.894; 13. Alex Hofmann (GER) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.720; 16. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.029

www.kawasaki-eckl.com

More News
  For July 2005
  From Kawasaki Racing
  For Moto GP
  Biker247.com Home Page