Ducati Corse ended a difficult MotoGP weekend with a
double top-ten result at a searing-hot Laguna Seca,
Loris Capirossi coming home eighth and team-mate Sete
Gibernau in tenth in the US Grand Prix as temperatures
nudged 40 degrees.
Capirossi and Sete Gibernau had endured a tricky
qualifying session at the burning hot Laguna Seca
track on Saturday. The pair ended the outing 13th and
16th quickest, unable to get the best out of their
Bridgestone tyres, although they expect to do better in
the race. Conditions were scorching with track temperatures hitting 60
degrees, a MotoGP record. Usually the hottest MotoGP
tracks are Sepang in subtropical Malaysia and Losail
on the Arabian peninsular, where track temperatures
reach the low-to-mid 50s. Both riders struggled to find a
set-up that would allow them to exploit the
performance of their Bridgestone front slicks. Thus
when they fitted rear qualifying tyres this
afternoon they didn't have enough front grip to
improve their lap times for a better grid position.
The US Grand Prix last Sunday was to be a gruelling endurance test for men,
machines and tyres, and especially for Capirossi and
Gibernau who never managed to get the best out of their
bike/tyre package at this unusual racetrack. More then
3,000 ducatisti watched at the race from Ducati Island
tribune.
LORIS CAPIROSSI: "I think I rode a good
race, a very good race considering what we had at our
disposal. It was impossible for me to do better than this. I
never gave up, I passed Sete and Tamada, built a gap and
then controlled that gap to the end. I used harder tyres
than I had used all weekend, the front was okay, the rear
went down mid-race, but overall they were okay. I am glad I
finished and got some points. I just hope that this is our
last tough race and that the difficult part of the season is
over."
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The
US Grand Prix on Sunday was to be a gruelling endurance test for men,
machines and tyres, and especially for Capirossi and
Gibernau who never managed to get the best out of
their bike/tyre package at this unusual racetrack. |
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Ducati Corse ended a difficult MotoGP weekend with a
double top-ten result at a searing-hot Laguna Seca,
Loris Capirossi coming home eighth and team-mate Sete
Gibernau in tenth in the US Grand Prix as temperatures
nudged 40 degrees. |
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SETE GIBERNAU:
"It's been the same
all weekend, we haven't been able to adjust our bike/tyre
package to this track. It was one of those races which I
just wanted to end because my shoulder (Gibernau broke his
left collarbone last month) wasn't good. It was done after
eight laps and I didn't want to ride with anyone else
because I was struggling to get the bike stopped. Anyway,
we're done now and we're going home for the summer break,
when we can get our heads down and analyse what we've done
here. It's not going to be much of a holiday for me because
I've got to work very hard to get my physical condition back
to where it should be."
FEDERICO MINOLI, Ducati
Motor Holding CEO and President:
"Considering our
performance in practice, the race went better than we had
expected. It is never fair to be happy with other riders'
misfortune but a little of that definitely helped us today."
LIVIO SUPPO, Ducati
MotoGP Project Manager:
"It's been a very
difficult weekend. This is a very particular racetrack and
we weren't able to put it all together here. But both rides
gave it their best despite everything and with some other
riders having problems we got some decent points. We have to
think positive, go home and analyse the data to understand
why we weren't fast here, when we know we can be very fast
at more normal racetracks."
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