2007 MotoGP - Le Mans, France

Makoto Tamada.  Courtesy Yamaha Racing.

Race Results
A thrilling home-race win for Rossi and FIAT Yamaha in a race about as exciting as they get.

Valentino Rossi set yet another record in his extraordinary racing career today, becoming the first rider in the history of the sport to take six consecutive wins at his home circuit.

The 85,480 adoring fans who had braved the threat of rain and turned the green hillsides of the Mugello valley bright yellow were rewarded in style as the Italian scored an emphatic and emotional victory, his fourth here for Yamaha and eighth in total from twelve years of racing.

Under miraculously dry skies, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider got a poor start from third on the grid and found himself down in eighth position at turn one.  Once he had built up enough heat in his Michelin tires however he set out in earnest, picking off riders one-by-one and moving up to second behind Dani Pedrosa by lap seven of 23.

Two laps later Rossi made his move on the Spaniard and from then on the pair were racing just a few tenths of a second apart, with Rossi extending the advantage around the twistier parts of the circuit and Pedrosa closing it slightly down the long home straight.  Little by little however Rossi began to pull away and he eventually crossed the line 3.074 seconds ahead of Pedrosa.

A late pass by Alex Barros on series-leader Casey Stoner for third place helped Rossi's points deficit and he now lies just nine points behind Stoner in the standings, with some of his favorite races coming up in the next few weeks.

It was a less successful day for Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards, who despite showing a strong race pace in the dry today was heavily penalized by starting from the sixth row of the grid.  The Texan has yet to enjoy a successful race at this circuit and was only able to make up a few places on his starting position, finishing 12th and slipping one place in the championship standings down to tenth.

Valentino Rossi Position: 1stTime: 42'42.385:  "To win in Mugello once again is an incredible emotion for me and I am very happy at this moment.  Racing in front of the fans here is always something unbelievable and they give me an extra motivation.  It's an incredible feeling to see so much yellow around the track, the fans were "coming crazy" today and it was a wonderful race!"

"As we had hoped it stayed dry, the sun came out and everything went to plan!  My team have worked brilliantly, my bike was perfect and I could ride it exactly how I wanted, I need to say a huge thank you to them and also to Michelin.  I didn't get a very good start but once my tires had warmed up my M1 really flew and I was able to fight back to the front."

"From the very beginning everyone was pushing at 100% and it was great fun in those first few laps! It was really a perfect race for me today and I felt like I had everyone on my side; Mugello is a magical track for me and this victory gives us a lot of power and confidence for the next races.  I had a special helmet for this race with a big heart on it and today I think we showed that we really have a lot of heart at Yamaha.  This is a great, great moment for me."

Qualifying
Can anyone stop Stoner?  He is on pole for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello and up-and-comer Chris Vermeulen is second.

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will launch his quest for a sixth consecutive home victory from the front row also, having kept his cool during a rain-battered Qualifying session to take the third grid spot.  Despite some improvements to his race-pace during this morning's dry practice session, his team-mate Colin Edwards continued his unhappy relationship with Mugello this afternoon and could only manage a lowly 16th.

A torrential rainstorm during the preceding 125cc session meant the MotoGP Qualifying got underway with riders on wet-weather tires, although the track began to dry quickly with the help of a strong wind and lap times soon improved accordingly.

As they approached the half way point the heavens opened again and the riders were forced to take shelter in the pits until the storm abated.  Luckily it was short-lived and Rossi, who was currently sitting in eight position, got back out as quickly as possible and set about making the most of the remaining ten minutes.

On full wet-weather tires the Italian put in a consistent run of laps, getting faster and faster as the track began to dry out and clocking his best time of 2'01.695 on his penultimate lap, just 0.3 seconds than last week's race winner Chris Vermeulen.

Pole position went to series-leader Casey Stoner, who put in a lap of 2'00.359 just before the storm when the track was at its driest.  Edwards continued to struggle throughout the session and 16th place will see him head the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow's 23-lap race, which gets underway at 1400 local time.

Chris Vermeulen:  “The session started out in pouring rain, but with the wind it dried up quite quick.  I came in with 25 minutes to go and said I needed to put on a slick tire as there was a lot of grip, and then it started raining again!  I thought it would dry out a bit more than it did at the end, but it didn’t.  I tried to go a bit quicker for the last few laps, but my timing wasn’t right and I missed out on another full lap.  The Bridgestone wet tires worked well again and being on the front row gives me a good chance in the race, whatever the conditions may be.”

Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rdTime: 2'01.695Laps: 20:  "I'm very happy about this front row because today was really a bit of a 'casino' with the weather and I think anything could have happened!  We started off with wet tires and actually everything felt quite good, then it began to dry out very quickly because of the wind.  I was actually a bit unlucky because I put a harder rear in to try to do a faster lap on the drying track just as it began to rain again in the middle of the session."

"I was in eighth place and as soon as it stopped raining again I knew I had to get out and try to improve my time.  With full wets the bike worked very well and I was able to keep on doing faster and faster laps as the track dried out.  We found a good tire for the rain and actually it seems here we're okay in the wet and the dry.  Anyway I really hope it's dry tomorrow, for the riders but especially for all the fans who are camping on the hillside.  I think in the rain it's maybe not so much fun!  It's important to be on the front row here, now we wait and see for the weather and hope for a good race - rain or sun!"

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer Chris Vermeulen starts from second place on the grid, as he showed his wet weather skills once more at a damp Mugello circuit.  Vermeulen (2’01.381, 16 laps) got to grips with the treacherous conditions early on and topped the leaderboard for large parts of the hour-long session.

Vermeulen will be making his first front row start of the season as he continues with the good form he showed in the rain at Le Mans.  His time was only bettered by Casey Stoner on the Bridgestone-shod Ducati.

Race Preview
Yamaha Team Report - The sixth round of the MotoGP World Championship welcomes the Fiat Yamaha Team to their home circuit of Mugello this weekend and the mouth-watering prospect of another classic race at the legendary venue.

Already one of the most eagerly anticipated dates on the calendar, this year's visit to Tuscany has the extra spice of an Italian manufacturer leading the World Championship whilst the homecoming of Valentino Rossi to his adoring fans always guarantees an electric atmosphere and a performance to match from the mercurial 28-year-old.

Rossi has satiated the partisan local crowd's appetite for entertainment and end-product for the past five seasons, putting together a run of victories previously unsurpassed by any one rider at their local track.

"The Doctor" has not been beaten on Italian soil since 2001, when he crashed out in a wet race, and his past three victories for Yamaha are unequalled in measures of brilliance and bravery.  Mike Hailwood, who won the Isle of Man TT for five consecutive seasons in the 1960s, is the only rider in history to have held such a firm stronghold over his home Grand Prix.

Colin Edwards' record at Mugello is somewhat less spectacular but the Texan has every reason to look forward to this weekend.  After qualifying on the front row of the grid at four of the first five races Edwards has been denied a mammoth points haul merely through sheer bad luck - the latest chapter in a catalogue of misfortune coming in France, where the heavens opened as the grid formed on an otherwise dry circuit and denied him the chance to shoot for victory from pole position.  A continuation of his excellent practice form and another top performance in qualifying should finally bear fruit this Sunday.

The Mugello circuit is one of the fastest on the calendar, with the front straight almost certain to entice the new 800cc machines towards their highest top speed of the year.  Measuring 1,141m, it is 61m shorter than the back straight of Shanghai, the longest in the championship, but the faster final turn and longer entry into the straight means the riders can get on the gas early, shift up through the gears and still have time to get the throttle wide open in sixth, potentially edging past the 337.5km/h set by Casey Stoner in China.

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.

Here are some of the figures to be looking for at Mugello:

• 1991 - The total number of points accumulated in the premier-class by Alex Barros. A top seven finish at Mugello and he will become just the third rider ever to pass the milestone of 2000 points in the premier-class, joining Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi.
  
• 91 - The number of premier class Grand Prix races between the last win by a Suzuki rider (Sete Gibernau at Valencia in 2001) and Chris Vermeulen’s victory in France.
• 11 - There has been at least one Italian rider on the podium in the premier class at Mugello for the last eleven years.
• 8 - Aprilia have scored eight victories this year from the fifteen Grand Prix races that have taken place in 2007. This compares with three wins for Ducati and one each for Derbi, Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki.
• 5 - The first five races of the year in the 125cc class have been won by five different riders (Hector Faubel, Gabor Talmacsi, Simone Corsi, Lukas Pesek and Sergio Gadea).  This has occurred just once previously in the 125cc class, in 2005.  If none of these five riders wins in Italy it will set a new record of the opening six races won by six different riders.
• 5 - Only five riders have managed to score points in each of the five MotoGP races of this year; Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi, Marco Melandri, Chris Vermeulen and Sylvain Guintoli.
  

Valentino Rossi:  As well as his five MotoGP victories at Mugello, Valentino Rossi also won the 125cc race there in 1997 and the 250cc race in 1999 - making him easily the most successful rider at the circuit across all classes of Grand Prix racing.  It promises to be another special weekend for the Italian and he is optimistic that his chances won't be spoiled, as they were in France, by the rain.

"We hoped that Le Mans would be a place where we might have been able to win back some points on Stoner, but unfortunately the weather played against us," says Rossi, who trails the Australian by 21 points in the current rider standings.  "We stayed in France for two days of testing and we made a lot of progress, especially with the tires.  We also tried some new engine modifications, just small details, which we think will help us in Mugello.

"As everyone knows I have a very special relationship with Mugello.  I have won there many times, including the last three years with Yamaha, and I've had some of the greatest races of my life there.  Even though I will have a second home race this year at Misano, Mugello is something incredible and the fans and atmosphere there are always unbelievable.  It's a fantastic track but of course the straight is very long and we know we're going to have a very hard battle on our hands. At least we can rely on the weather... I hope!"

Colin Edwards:  In stark contrast to the fortunes of Valentino Rossi at Mugello, for Colin Edwards it is one of his least successful circuits - with a best ever result of ninth place in both 2003 and 2005.  However, Edwards' pace aboard the YZR-M1 at every kind of circuit so far this season gives him plenty of reason to think that he can end that barren run this Sunday.

"Mugello hasn't been one of my best GP tracks and I've never had a really great race there, but we're aiming to turn that around this time," affirms Edwards.  "Le Mans was a massive disappointment for everyone, especially after getting pole, but it was good to get back to work straight away and try to find out why it happened instead of sitting stewing over it for ten days.  We know our bike is working brilliantly when we get everything right - qualifying is proving that at every race - but we really need to translate that to race conditions and to do this we need to make the most of every minute of practice.

"Mugello is an incredible place and the Italian fans are completely crazy, in a good way!  The countryside is beautiful and you can't help but be inspired by the atmosphere.  This is really crunch time now - six races in eight weeks with the first being Valentino's home race and the last, in the US, being mine.  Let's hope we can kick the run off to a good start with a double podium in Mugello, finish it off in the same way at Laguna and try to do the same thing at all the ones in between too!"

Mugello: Lap Record
M. Biaggi (Honda) 2005, 1'50.117

Mugello: Best Lap
S. Gibernau (Ducati) 2006, 1'48.969

Grand Prix Results: Mugello 2006
1. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 42'39.610
2. L. Capirossi (Ducati) +0.575
3. N. Hayden (Honda) +0.735
12. C. Edwards (USA) Yamaha +30.678

Mugello Race Circuit

Rizla Suzuki Team Report
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP travels across Europe to Mugello in Italy, for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, still fuelled with confidence following Chris Vermeulen’s fantastic victory last time out at Le Mans.

Vermeulen stormed to his and Suzuki’s maiden MotoGP victory last weekend, a result that followed John Hopkins’ podium in China the race before.  Both results show that Suzuki has produced a motorcycle this season capable of performing in all conditions.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP has also been working hard improving the 800cc GSV-R in readiness for the forthcoming races. Both riders tested new engine parts at Le Mans on the Monday after the race and were impressed with the steps forward.

The sixth round of the season will be held at the picturesque Autodromo Internazionale Del Mugello. The track is set in the beautiful Tuscan countryside just north of Florence. The 5.245km circuit is one of the fastest on the MotoGP calendar, with the start-finish straight running along the bottom of a valley and the rest of the track winding up and down the hills on either side.  Mugello is used as Ferrari’s testing circuit and, with the 50 metres of altitude difference along the track’s length, offers a comprehensive stress test for men and machines alike.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will take to the track on Friday 1st June for the customary two hour-long free practice sessions. Saturday will see another free practice session in the morning followed by the excitement of qualifying during the afternoon.  Sunday’s 23-lap race will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT), when thousands of excited Italian fans are expected to line every bit of hillside around the track.

Chris Vermeulen:  “Last weekend was a great result for me and the team, but that was last week and now we have to start all over again at Mugello.  I struggled to get to grips with the circuit last year and only managed 14th in the race.  I am determined to do better than that this year as I know I have improved and so has the bike.  Monday’s test at Le Mans was pretty good and we will have the new parts for Italy.  I am looking forward to getting back out there and we must now build on the wet win and podium and start doing it in the dry – which I know we are capable of!”

John Hopkins:  “I was a bit disappointed at the end of the race at Le Mans as we had worked so hard in the dry and then that was spoiled by the weather.  We will continue to work hard in Italy and hope that the weather holds this time.  I really like the Mugello track, it is fast and flowing and I think it will suit the 800 well.  We made a number of steps forward at Le Mans in the test. We will have the new parts in Italy and I think they will be a big help.  I feel good about my riding and my chances of a good result in Italy!”