YRC_news@yamaha-racing.com
Camel Yamaha Team follows express route to the orient
Shanghai, China
9/5/2006
The whirlwind start to the 2006 MotoGP World Championship continues next weekend
as the paddock's globetrotting journey heads eastwards across Asia to the
Shanghai International Circuit in China. After visiting Spain, Qatar and Turkey
in the opening three rounds of the series, the Camel Yamaha Team take their
points quest back to the skies for another 'flyaway' race, before returning to
start a European road trip that covers seven races in nine weeks - starting at
the Le Mans circuit in France only seven days after the Chinese event.
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards arrive in the country known locally as 'The
Big Land' with a mixed bag of results under their arms after an unpredictable
start to the campaign. Rossi followed up a first-corner fall at Jerez with
victory in Doha before battling to fourth place in Istanbul after a weekend
dogged by technical difficulties and bad weather. It has been a similar story
for his Texan team-mate, who has shown excellent pace in practice but has yet to
find a set-up package that will enable him to compete for race victories and
podiums.
The Shanghai circuit was designed by architects Hermann Tilke and Peter Wahl and
its layout was inspired by the shape of the Chinese character 'shang', which
stands for 'high' or 'above'. Other symbols represented in the architecture of
the circuit facilities originate from Chinese history, such as the team
buildings, which are arranged like pavilions on a lake to resemble the ancient
Yuyan-Garden in Shanghai. One of the circuit's most impressive features is the
extraordinary main grandstand, which holds capacity for 29,000 spectators and
provides a spectacular view of almost 80 percent of the circuit.
Valentino Rossi: Tight and technical
After taking a surprise wet-weather victory at this circuit last season,
Valentino Rossi is hoping for an identical result in different conditions this
time around. The torrential rain that fell during the inaugural event at
Shanghai one year ago set the scene for one of the most impressive performances
of Rossi's career but, given the choice, the World Champion is hoping for a much
more straightforward way to demonstrate his superiority next Sunday.
"Out of all the victories in my career, China last year was the one I least
expected because of the problems we had with the bike during the weekend and
with the rain on race day," explains Rossi, who became the all-time record
points scorer in Grand Prix history thanks to his fourth place finish in Turkey
last week - a result that outs him fifth in the championship. "It was the first
time I had won in the wet on the Yamaha, so it was a special victory, but this
year I would definitely prefer a dry race. The 2006 version M1 didn't work as
well as we had hoped in the wet practice sessions in Turkey and we need as much
dry track time as possible to get the bike setting as I like it."
Like Turkey the Shanghai circuit was designed by Hermann Tilke, but it is much
more similar to the German architect's other effort at Sepang in Malaysia, with
tight bends and long straights that, according to Rossi, make the rider's skill
in setting the bike up even more important. "My first impressions of the circuit
last year were very good but then it wasn't as much fun as I expected," explains
the Italian. "It is actually quite tight and technical and is very much a
Formula 1 track, so all the riders have a lot of hard work to do finding the
right setting for the bikes. It is not ideal for MotoGP - it is a very demanding
circuit and it will test the riders and the bikes to the maximum."
Colin Edwards: Expect the unexpected
Colin Edwards says he is unsure about what to expect in China after experiencing
such mixed fortunes at each of the opening three rounds this season. Like his
team-mate, the American is hoping for favourable circumstances from the opening
practice in order to gather crucial set-up data for the 2006 version YZR-M1
machine.
"Because we had so little dry time at Shanghai last year I think there is a big
question mark for everybody about what is going to happen," says Edwards, who
currently lies ninth in the championship on 19 points. "It will be important to
find a good setting for the bike as quickly as possible so that we can get some
endurance testing in before the race and make sure we don't have the problems
we've struggled with in previous weekends. This is a very important Grand Prix
for us and we simply have to end it with a decent result before the championship
heads back to Europe.
"The test at Istanbul on Monday was quite beneficial because it gave us an idea
of the lap times we could have done in the race if we weren't interrupted by the
rain on Saturday, which was encouraging, although it didn't win us any points
back! We got a lot of laps in, which is what we need right now, so the engineers
have some good data to work on over the next week before the race and I'm
confident they can come up with something for us in China."
Davide Brivio: Positive thinking
Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio is looking towards the Grand Prix in
China as a major opportunity to turn around the team's early-season fortunes.
Having enjoyed a particularly fruitful weekend in Shanghai at this stage last
season, the Italian is hoping the event can prove to be a turning point for the
team at the start of a critical phase of the championship.
"Last year's race in China was very important for us because we won, and won
well, in the wet and this helped us to find the solutions to some problems we
had with the dry setting, so we are hoping it can be the same this time," says
Brivio. "It has been a difficult start to the season but despite the bad luck of
Valentino's crash in the first round at Jerez he is still very close to the top.
We're looking forward to seeing what both he and Colin are capable of when the
problems are solved and hopefully that can start in China.
"Now we have eight races in eleven weekends, which is a lot and puts pressure on
everybody. For example our drivers will be going straight from China to pick up
the trucks and driving them to France without a break, but I think it is worse
for the riders because they have no time to rest. In any case the next three
months are the core of the season and a period where the situation regarding the
championship becomes much clearer. The conditions are the same for everybody so
we have to make sure we work to the best of our abilities and come through with
a good share of the points."
Technically speaking: Colin Edwards' suspension technician Robert Gronlund
Despite being drawn by the same hand as the Istanbul Circuit in Turkey, Shanghai
has different characteristics that bring to mind closer comparisons with the
other Herman Tilke circuit of Sepang. Combining fast straights and hard braking
zones with a series of slow and difficult corners, bike set-up is again a
question of finding a compromised balance, whilst the big unknown this weekend
will be the conditions - with last year's mixed bag of weather and the typically
hot and humid climate making grip levels a complete mystery until Friday morning
practice.
"In some ways Shanghai is similar to Turkey but in other ways it is very
different," explains Robert Gronlund, Colin Edwards' Ohlins suspension
technician. "For instance, it doesn't flow as much as that track but it does
have a mixture of fast corners and very hard braking zones, so in terms of the
set-up the key is again to have a good compromise - especially with the
suspension. The bike needs to turn well into the slow corners because, like with
the final section in Turkey, you can lose a lot of time there.
"The thing about Shanghai is that we have only been once and it was sometimes
wet and sometimes dry, so we have a very limited amount of data. Really we're
not worried about that though because we feel we made an important step during
the test in Turkey. We have reduced the vibration problems we had at Jerez and
Qatar and found a solution to the difficulties we had at Istanbul - just
generally making the bike easier to ride. A lot will depend on the grip levels
at Shanghai and it certainly won't be easy, but we are looking forward to it."
Valentino Rossi: Information
Age: 27
Lives: London, UK
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
GP victories: 80 (54 x MotoGP/500cc, 14 x 250cc, 12 x 125cc)
First GP victory: Czech Republic, 1996 (125cc)
First GP: Malaysia, 1996 (125cc)
GP starts: 160 (100 x MotoGP/500cc, 30 x 250cc, 30 x 125cc)
Pole positions: 40
World Championships - 7 Grand Prix (1 x 125cc, 1 x 250cc, 1 x 500cc, 4 x MotoGP)
Colin Edwards: Information
Age: 32
Lives: Conroe, Texas
Bike: Yamaha YZR-M1
First GP: Japan, 2003 (MotoGP)
GP starts: 51 x MotoGP
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
Shanghai Lap Record: Alex Barros (Honda) 2005 - 2'13.716*
Shanghai Best Lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2005 - 1'59.710
Shanghai 2005 Results*:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 50'02.463
2. Olivier Jacque (Kawasaki) +1.700
3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +16.574
8. Colin Edwards(Yamaha) +31.033
* Wet Race
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