The Camel Yamaha Team heads into its home Grand Prix this weekend
looking to turn a stuttering start to the season into a consistent
challenge for MotoGP World Championship honours. The fast and flowing
Mugello circuit in Italy presents an entirely different challenge to
the tight complexities of recent tracks such as Le Mans and Shanghai
and both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards hope it can also deliver a
similar contrast in the fortunes that have followed them around the
world during a dramatic opening five rounds of the campaign.
Rossi, in particular, is keen to get his fifth title defence back on
track in front of his adoring Italian public. The Tavulia-born
superstar, who was last week honoured with the ?Spirit of Sport? award
at the prestigious Laureus Sports Awards, wants to add another prize to
his trophy cabinet by claiming his fifth consecutive victory at the
Mugello circuit.
Edwards is equally focused on the top step of the podium after again
demonstrating winning potential at the last round in France. The
American was forced into the gravel in the first turn but he battled
through from last place to take sixth overall and finish just eleven
seconds down on the race winner. Like Rossi, he knows that if things
play in his favour this weekend it can be a glorious return home for
the Milan-based team.
VALENTINO ROSSI: ELEVEN WINS SHOULD DO IT!
After failing to score points at the last two rounds because of freak
tyre and engine problems, Rossi now trails series leader Nicky Hayden
(Honda) by 43 points and lies eighth in the championship ? his worst
ever start to a World Championship season in any class. However, with a
typical air of optimism based on confidence in his unrivalled ability,
the Italian refuses to consider defeat at this early stage of the
season and says this weekend is the ideal time to turn things around.
?Mugello has been very good to me over the past few years ? it is a
very special race and this season it is even more important than ever,?
admits Rossi. ?I have had some incredible emotions there over the years
and it is always a very busy weekend for me, but it is crucial that we
maintain our focus on the job because we have to be at 100% if we want
to win again. The new chassis worked well at Le Mans and we have some
good data from the test to improve it at Mugello so I have reason to be
confident.?
If Rossi did go on to win the title this year he would be the first
rider ever to do so having had only one podium finish in the first five
races of the year. It is the kind of challenge he relishes. ?We have
had a lot of bad luck but I don?t think 43 points is such a big gap
when there are still twelve races left,? he says. ?It will be difficult
to win them all but I will settle for taking eleven wins and one second
place! When you look at what has happened to us this season, mostly
things out of our control, I probably lost 25 points in France, 16 in
China and 14 in Jerez so if it wasn?t for all that I would be in a much
better situation in the championship now. I think we showed our true
potential last weekend and it is just a matter of our luck changing
now. Mugello would be the perfect place for that.?
COLIN EDWARDS: A FAMILY AFFAIR
Colin Edwards has more than one reason to look forward to Mugello, both
on and off the track. During a gruelling run of races visiting all
corners of the globe over the last two months the Texan has not had
much chance to see his young son Hayes, but the baby, who was born in
December, will be making his first visit to Europe this week and
staying on the road with the whole family during the upcoming run of
races on the continent. The proud father hopes family life on the road
can provide the foundation to a series of positive results.
?Hayes will be coming over with my daughter Gracie and my wife Alyssia
so obviously I?m really looking forward to that,? admits Edwards. ?I
love being with the family and living out of the motorhome instead of
travelling all over the place staying in hotels. I find it helps me to
focus on my performance on the track and hopefully it can give me an
extra edge this weekend. That is the most important thing and at this
stage of the season, with the way things have gone recently, we need
every advantage we can get.?
Another plus point for Edwards this week will be the delivery of a new
chassis for his YZR-M1 machine, used by Rossi with positive results at
the last round in Le Mans. ?My bike has been the same since Turkey and
whilst I have got comfortable with it now I think we have reached the
limit in some areas. I did thirty laps with the new chassis in the Le
Mans test and I could clearly see the extra potential. Now I?ll have
one from the start at Mugello and so that?s something for us to get our
teeth into from the first session and see how far we can go.?
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: 162 (102 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: 53 x MotoGP
World Championships - 2 World Superbike
DAVIDE BRIVIO: EXCITEMENT AT HOME!
Whilst recognising that recent results have not lived up to
expectations, Camel Yamaha Team Director Davide Brivio remains upbeat
that his riders are still on course to meet their objectives for the
season. The Italian has been encouraged by recent progress made by
Yamaha?s engineers and says a simple turn in fortune is now all that is
required for both Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards to be challenging
at the sharp end of the field.
?In the last race at Le Mans we had a lot of bad luck but it was a very
important and encouraging weekend for us to confirm the general
progress we are making with the bike,? says Brivio. ?Valentino was
riding steadily in the lead and probably would have won quite
comfortably, whilst Colin also had an excellent race to come through
from last place and finish sixth so we know we have something to build
on and we want to continue with this progression.
?We have twelve races left to get points back and the first stage of
the recovery is this weekend at Mugello. All we can do is try to gather
as many points from race to race and that means taking victory on
Sunday. It is a home race for Valentino and for half of the team so it
will be important for us to have the support of the big Italian crowd
to help us do this. This has been an unpredictable championship so far
but something we can be certain of at Mugello is that it will be very
hot and very exciting!?
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: MUGELLO ACCORDING TO DANIELE ROMAGNOLI
At 5.245km the Mugello circuit is one of the longer contemporary MotoGP
circuits, in no small part due to the fact that it has retained its
original length and layout. Running across two sides of an impossibly
scenic Tuscan valley, Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its
frequent changes of gradient and the speed of its chicanes. There is a
mix of slower and high-speed corners, although even the slowest corners
are wide, allowing several ?ideal? lines and putting the emphasis on
rider skill as well as chassis set-up precision.
?Mugello is a very technical track,? explains Daniele Romagnoli, Colin
Edwards? Italian Chief Mechanic. ?Chassis set-up is perhaps the most
important thing but you also need a good engine for the straight
because there is around 950m with the throttle fully open. The gearing
is also important at this point ? you need small gaps between fourth,
fifth and sixth gear to get the most out of the engine.
?Generally it is a very complex track and the rider can make the
difference. It has a very hard braking into turn one, where the riders
go from around 330km/h to just 85km/h. Then there is a sequence of
?esses? where it is important to have a bike that has good turning
capabilities and agility. There are some quick changes in direction,
with uphill and downhill turns, so you need a good compromise with the
set-up to make it turn well in both types of corner.?
Romagnoli adds that the delivery of a new chassis for Edwards at this
round could not have come at a better time. ?The new chassis has
improved the performance of the front end of the bike, particularly in
terms of turning and stability on corner entry. It has also improved
the chatter problems that we have experienced and this will be crucial
at Mugello because there are some very fast corners and a lot of
lateral load on the bike.?
CIRCUIT INFORMATION
Pole Position right
Length: 5245m
Width: 14m
Right corners: 9
Left corners: 6
Constructed: 1974
Mugello Lap Record: Max Biaggi (Honda) 2005 ? 1?50.117
Mugello Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 ? 1?49.223
2005 Results
1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha, 42?42.994
2. Max Biaggi (ITA) Honda, +0.359
3. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, +3.874
