2007 MotoGP - Istanbul, Turkey

Chris Vermeulen. Courtesy Rizla Suzuki MotoGP.

Race Results
Disappointment for Rossi and Edwards on Unlucky Day in Turkey

High hopes for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards went unfulfilled today as the Fiat Yamaha Team riders, who started from first and second on the grid, were both victims of bad luck at Istanbul Park.

The pair got a good start and were leading the pack into turn one before Edwards dropped back as he was unable to get enough heat into his tire and Rossi made a mistake and ran wide at turn eleven.  Disaster then struck for Edwards as he was hit from behind by another rider and sent tumbling into the gravel trap in a crash that involved four riders in total.

Rossi meanwhile seemed to be going well and had fought back to second behind eventual winner Casey Stoner, before he suffered a serious rear tire problem that forced him to roll off the gas and drop right back through the field. The Italian had to use all his talents to keep himself in the race and he eventually brought his Yamaha home in tenth position, taking what were a creditable six points under the circumstances.

Rossi now drops to second place in the championship standings, ten points behind Stoner and 15 ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who was also involved in the first-lap crash.  Edwards' unlucky non-finish, only the second in his Yamaha career, means he drops down to sixth.  The Fiat Yamaha Team have a one-day test planned tomorrow although Edwards will wait until the morning to confirm if he will ride after badly bruising his knee when he was knocked down.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 10thTime: +18.999:  "We are very disappointed today because we had high expectations for this race, but instead we had some unexpected problems with the tire and it's been a disaster for us.  Yesterday and this morning the same race tire felt good but unfortunately today something happened to it after some laps and I couldn't fulfill the potential we had here.  We don't know the reason yet for the problem but now Michelin are trying to understand what happened."

"I had a great start and was leading on the first lap, although I made a mistake at turn eleven when I ran wide and dropped to fifth.  However at that stage my bike was working very well and I was able to fight back to second; I felt sure that I was going to have a good battle with Stoner! Sadly though, after ten or eleven laps, the tire started to lose all grip and I had to slow right down because I was quite scared.  It felt like there was a big problem with the tire and I had to go very carefully just to finish.  We were very unlucky today, we started first and second but Colin crashed when he was hit and then I had this problem.  I'm also quite unhappy with Elias today because I think he was quite dangerous - more than once he passed me on the inside and then altered his line.  This is not a correct way to race.  We're all quite sad tonight but we have many more races so we will look forward now to China."

Qualifying
Rossi edges in front to take pole again.

Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session for the third race in the 2007 MotoGP World Championship took place at Istanbul Park under clear, sunny skies in comfortable temperatures, with Valentino Rossi taking pole for tomorrow’s race.

With virtually no wind or humidity and the track completely dried out after some slippery conditions yesterday, The Doctor secured his second pole of the season with a 1’52.795 lap - a second and a half quicker than his best time in free practice and just 0.461s off Sete Gibernau’s circuit best lap, set on 990cc machinery in 2005.

As he attempts to win back the title he lost last year to Nicky Hayden, Rossi will be looking to extend his current points lead at the top of the World Championship with a win in Sunday’s race on one of the few MotoGP tracks where he has not yet tasted victory.

The five-time former World Champion’s team-mate Colin Edwards was just 0.149s behind the Italian to give Fiat Yamaha an impressive one-two at the head of the grid.  The Yamaha team clearly found a good set-up after another inconsistent Friday for the Texas Tornado. 

Only 0.027s slower than Edwards and 0.176s off Rossi’s pace was Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, the Spaniard apparently inadvertently blocked by Rizla Suzuki’s John Hopkins as he pushed for quicker time at the end of the session.

Casey Stoner was disappointed to qualify in fourth, with traffic on track and cold tires at a critical moment hindering him slightly after he looked in such good shape in practice.  The Ducati rider was still the fastest rider on Bridgestone tires today, but the Michelin qualifiers did the job for the front three.

Qualifying tires aside the likeable Aussie will hope his race compounds allow him to push Rossi as hard as he can when tomorrow’s action gets underway on a track where he got his first podium with a second placed finish last year.

Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Loris Capirossi will be just behind him on the grid, the Italian veteran’s mind clearly much more focused on competing at this Grand Prix following the birth of his first child recently.

A much improved showing from Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Hayden saw the MotoGP title holder knock nearly two seconds off his previous best time of the weekend as he finally found some pace to secure a second row start – his sixth place on the grid his best showing so far in 2007.

After a frustrating start to the season Hayden would probably be happy to finish tomorrow’s race on the podium in third as he has done at this circuit for the last two years. 

The third row of the starting grid will feature Suzuki pair Hopkins (7th) and Chris Vermeulen (9th) either side of Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet, while the top ten is completed by Honda Gresini’s Spanish rider Toni Elias – who slipped back following a good showing in practice earlier in the day.  Elias’ Italian colleague Marco Melandri will not be a happy man after qualifying 14th as the two time Grand Prix of Turkey winner’s miserable weekend and disappointing World Championship campaign continues.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 1'52.795 Laps: 24:  "I'm very happy to have a pole position at this track, which has never been one of my favorites!  I've had some bad moments here in the past but this year it feels like a different track for me and I'm having great fun!  My M1 is very competitive, a lot more fun to ride here than in the past and the new modifications we have for our engine have made an important difference to our overall performance."

"The team has done a great job because we had some problems yesterday but they've found some good solutions and now Colin and I are first and second.  My tires are working well and we've found the right front for tomorrow.  We need to make a final decision about the rear in the morning.  With the qualifying tire my bike really flew and I was able to do a very good lap; I started my first lap a few minutes earlier than the others and then I knew that I could improve a little bit more with the second qualifying tire.  Anyway all three of us are very close on the front row so I think it's going to be a tight battle tomorrow. Let's hope for good weather and see what happens."

Colin Edwards - Position: 2nd Time: 1'52.944 Laps: 21:  "Well after the problems we had yesterday I've got to say a massive thanks to my team.  They looked at the issues, got out their protractors, did their maths and worked their magic like always!  The Michelin qualifier really sticks like glue for us this year and I was able to really push it.  I thought I was going to run into traffic at one point on my last lap but I just kept my head down and somehow came out the other side in front.  It was definitely a mistake-free lap."

"As for tomorrow, we need to work a little bit on our race pace - two tenths would be good but three would be even better!  I think we're losing it in T3 so we need to concentrate on that part of the track.  We've moved onto a different front from the 'old faithful' we've been using so far this year because that one was a little bit too close to the limit here, but it's working really well so we just need to make a final decision on the rear.  It's a great result for the team to have us both on the front row again so let's hope to make the most of it with a similar result tomorrow!"

Race Preview
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP is looking for Turkish delights in Istanbul.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Chris Vermeulen and John Hopkins will be back in action for the first time in three weeks when the MotoGP circus roars into Istanbul next weekend.

Vermeulen qualified in pole position for last year’s Turkish Grand Prix and will be looking to emulate that feat this year.  The Australian star knows that he must do be better in qualifying to enable him to capitalize on his impressive race performances.  In the first two rounds in Qatar and Spain Vermeulen qualified in 13th and 14th places, but raced to seventh and ninth respectively.

Hopkins is still recovering from the wrist injury that he sustained at the Qatar test in February.  Suzuki’s tough Anglo-American rider was offered the chance of surgery during the break to repair the injured joint, but chose not to go along with an operation as it would have meant a six week lay off.

The Grand Prix of Turkey is round three in the MotoGP World Championship and the 5.3km long Istanbul Park circuit is one of the most demanding and technical on the calendar.  With fast tricky downhill braking sections and many elevation changes, plus one of the fastest corners in racing - which is taken at speeds in excess of 250km/h -- the circuit has supplied plenty of high-speed action in its two previous motorcycle Grand Prix.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP takes to the track on Friday 20th April for two hour-long practice sessions.  This is followed on Saturday with a further hour’s practice in the morning before the all-important afternoon qualifying session.  Sunday’s 22-lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Chris Vermeulen:  “I have good memories of Istanbul because that is where I got my first ever pole position.  I have been a bit disappointed with the first two races as I know I can do better.  The bike is improving all the time and I must improve on my qualifying.  Being down on the fifth row makes the job hard work.  I need to be up there with the front guys from the start and not playing catch up. So this will be a good place to start going about doing that!”

John Hopkins:  “My wrist is still painful, but there was no way I was going to have an operation!  I would have been out for about six weeks and every race is so important that I can’t afford to miss any.  I will have my wrist taped up and once I’m out on the bike the adrenalin will kick in and it should all be ok.  I think that at Jerez last time out I could have made the podium, if I hadn’t have crashed, so I need to get my head down and keep aiming for that goal.”

Istanbul Circuit. Courtesy Yamaha Racing.