Motorcycles and news

MotoGP: Makoto Highly Motivated For Istanbul April 25, 2006

The 5.328km circuit situated 62 Km far from Istanbul, on the South Eastern part of the city, will host the MotoGP World Championship for the second time, a little more than six months from the first MotoGp Gran Prix of Turkey hold here last October.

The riders have immediately appreciated this track designed by the architect Herman Tilke, author of other well known circuits such as Sepang and Shanghai, presenting, by the way, one of the fastest corner of the World Championship.
As for the previous round in Doha - Qatar, the complete programme of tests and the Sunday race will be postponed of one hour to maintain the same TV schedule for the fans who will watch the event from home.

Last season Makoto Tamada, the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team rider, ended up the race in eighth position with an overall race time of 42′17.484″. The Japanese rider was on the seventh position of the starting grid and set his race fastest lap in 1′54.358″

Gianluca Montiron Konica Minolta Honda Managing Director
“We are going through a tricky period, for this, during this break after the Qatar GP, we have been committed in a long work of analysis to understand which is exactly the technical intervention margin we have at our disposal permitting us to help Makoto express his potential. On Monday, after the race, the Team will spend one more day in Istanbul where we will have the possibility to test some new Michelin tyres. We hope the support of our technical sponsors will be decisive in the resolution of our critical situation. Makoto could make a training period in Japan. I expect to find him on track next Friday even more motivated and desirous of success.”

Makoto Tamada Konica Minolta Honda Rider
“I know I have to come up to my team and the KONICA MINOLTA expectations. I took advantage of the two weeks break to find the right concentration and determination, because it is important to be at the top of the motivation in difficult moment like this. I can only guarantee that I’ll make the best use of my capacities to bring my Honda RC211V and the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team to get good results. I like the Istanbul circuit; I hope the weather conditions will be favourable so that I’ll have all the best conditions to express myself. On these days in Japan, I have also had the possibility to attend the third round of the Indy Car Series Championship as pace car rider of the event. A good experience that, in Indianapolis, will be lived by the very famous cycle racing champion Lance Armstrong.”

Giulio Bernardelle KONICA MINOLTA Honda Technical Director
“Among those built in the recent years, the Istanbul circuit, is surely the one presenting a track with the largest variety of characteristics and one of the most valid from a technical point of view. We turn in anti-clockwise direction and the short initial straight ends with a violent braking and with a second gear left corner getting onto a medium-fast sector where the series of corners is interrupted by two accelerations where the MotoGP riders can even arrive to use the fourth gear. The second part of the track starts after a long and large left airpim and another acceleration ending with a second gear braking. At this point the back straight begins. It is divided in two parts by a very fast right corner where the MotoGP riders have to keep the throttle partialized while the speed exceeds the 250Km/h. The lap closed with a series of three slow corners, which represent the less interesting part for the MotoGP.”