“KTM HERO” HIROSHI AOYAMA 7TH ON THE GRID; MANUEL POGGIALI AT 15TH
20 May 2006 - KTM-Sportmotorcycles AG

RR WCH 250: 5th race: French Grand Prix /Le Mans: 2nd Qualifying (20.05.2006)

Circuit: dry
Air Temperature: 18°C

Just five days after the Chinese Grand Prix the Red Bull KTM GP 250 Team is in France and in good form. However Hiroshi Aoyama, on the podium in second place in Shanghai ,suffered a stomach upset and had to have it checked out by Dr. Costa in the “Clinica Mobile“, the mobile clinic in the paddock area. Despite this disadvantage, Hiroshi still managed to secure a seventh grid position for Sunday’s race.

Again, as in China, tricky weather conditions made things difficult for the riders and technicians as the KTM faced just their 10th race in the 250cc class.

Manuel Poggiali, who celebrated his first Grand Prix victory in the 125 cc class in Le Mans in 2001, displayed his intention to put in an improved performance.

Strong gusts of wind were as difficult in the 250cc class as they were in the 125cc qualifying sessions, making the fight for the top places all the more problematic.

Just as Hiroshi Aoyama had ridden his KTM into place seven on the second grid row for Sunday’s race, Manuel Poggiali came unstuck during his last and fastest round. He was unhurt from the crash but will start from grid position 15 in the fifth race of the season.

Hiroshi Aoyama # 4 Red Bull KTM GP 250 — 7th grid position— 1’40.287 “Again we managed to collect a lot of valuable information during these variable weather conditions. Now we will be able to choose the best possible chassis setup and select the right Dunlop tyres to match — and for both possibilities, a dry circuit or rain — which according to the weather report, seems to be the most likely.”

Manuel Poggiali # 54 Red Bull KTM GP 250 —15th grid position— 1’41.041
“I crashed when I was on my way towards my fastest lap, right at the end of training.
Like the other riders I was able to improve my time by a couple of tenth and so I wasn’t able to improve on my start position from yesterday.
We are on the right track to find the right setup for the KTM and I will try the latest adjustments during the warm-up tomorrow morning. Then I should be well set up for the race.“

Harald Bartol — Technical and Managing Director
“We didn’t try anything very special or do anything extravagant, just solid set up work. Naturally the wind is rather a problem, especially with the 125 cc class and in the future we will work on a solution for this.
Will it be better if it rains or with a dry track? It’s all the same to me and it’s the same for all the riders. I just have to worry about whether to bring a raincoat or not!

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