2001 French Grand Prix 500 - Round 4 - Quotes

Max Biaggi - 1st - "That was a hard race for me. After the bad starts I had in South Africa and Spain I got away well, so I was able to fight for victory from the start, which made me very happy. I pushed hard right away, overtook Roberts and then made a mistake. I locked the rear on a downshift and had to pick up the bike and run off the track. I was worried that I might hit someone when I got back on track. After that I tried again and made it back into the lead. The team’s done a great job this weekend, both for me and for Carlos. The biggest help for us was our test at Mugello. We tried another chassis configuration and it felt better right away. Now I hope to be able to challenge for victory at my home GP. It’s going to be a big pressure weekend for us but I’ll try my best."

Carlos Checa - 2nd - "I had a bad start to the season but I think this shows I’m back! We worked very hard this weekend and I think we’re out of the bad times; we can see the light again. I think everything has changed for us and now I’m looking forward to Mugello. I think the whole team is happy, but I still want to keep improving. Second is a good result for now. I led for a while but Max’s pace was too fast for me. I tried to follow him, then my pit board told me Rossi was coming. If he came on strong I wasn’t sure I could hold him, but I just kept riding on the limit, keeping my focus. I never relaxed for a single lap."

Valentino Rossi - 3rd - "The race was not so bad, especially for the championship as second placed Abe finished behind me today. I lost too much time at the start but I am used to this and usually recover. But today my rear tyre was sliding much more than I expected. In the warm up the tyre we thought was looking good for the race had no grip this morning. According to Michelin this was because at 10.00. the temperature was low but they said at 14.00, when the race started, it would be better. In fact it was not." Finally in the conditions it was not possible to fight for the win. Honestly I must say, even if I had a good start Biaggi was too fast."

Norick Abe - 4th - "The bike felt fantastic out there today, especially under brakes. Everything was working so well that I was hoping for a better result than fourth. Sure I’m happy how I rode, especially as I was regularly one of the fastest riders on the track, but my start was so bad that I left myself too much work to do. It came down to the gearbox, the reason why I didn’t get away with them, but if I’d chose first gear right for the start then the rest of the gears would have been wrong for the rest of the circuit. I’m still second in the points at least and I’m looking forward to Mugello."

Alex Criville - 5th - "Even though I wasn't in the position where I hoped to be at the end of the race, I'm still content with my result today, because I was at the point of crashing several times in the race. I had a lot of chatter throughout the entire race and couldn't ride through the turns as fast as the others because it was difficult to keep control of the bike. I think we have made a mistake in our tyre choice. If you don't have a good set-up, there is no way to keep the pace of the other riders, and this is what happened to me today. I took victory on this circuit last year, which was not possible to repeat, and to be honest, I didn't even enjoy riding this time. We'll stay here for testing tomorrow, and maybe well be able to analyse what the problem was and find "

Kenny Roberts - 6th - "I got the start I needed and the early laps went well. Basically it's the same story as the previous races. We were a little more competitive at the beginning of the race, but over full race distance it gets more difficult. Once the tyres become about medium worn, the other guys have a big advantage in throttle connection and acceleration. I did my best."

Loris Capirossi - 7th - "I think this weekend has been the most difficult of the season for me. I never had any traction at all. We tried many, many things on the set up but we were never able to fix the problem, despite trying different tyres with different set ups. I'm too small and light for this type of track, it just doesn't suit me, or my riding style. We now go to Mugello which really suits my style. I love the track and the big fast corners suit my style perfectly."

Alex Barros - 8th - "For me it has been a weekend of problems, we never found good settings for the bike. I just couldn't get the bike to turn. I didn't get a good start and that didn't help, if I had I think I could have raced for fifth place. I passed riders but nobody passed me. Sure I was helped when some riders crashed but this was not my best weekend. Now we go to Mugello where I set pole position for the race last year. I'm looking forward to that and I'm sure we will have the bike the way we want it for the race."

Sete Gibernau - 9th "We didn't have the greatest qualifying, with problems in the last session, so the set-up was not great - though we worked hard to get where we did. In warm-up I was seventh-fastest, but I was having some trouble with stability under braking, and we weren't able to solve that for the race. It's a learning process, and our priority at this stage is to finish races. When things go our way with the machine the priority will change, and I'll be aiming to be at the front. Now it would be an error to try to do something we're not able to do. We're ready for more - the rider and the team."

Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh - 10th - "I'm happy. We all worked very, very hard this weekend. We're not there yet, and we still have a few open questions about the bike, that we need more testing to solve. Without these things I believe I could be half-a-second or a full second quicker in lap time. I had a small gear shifting problem in the morning warm-up that we weren't able to solve for the race. It cost me four or five km/h on the straight, and it meant I was losing ground early on. Once I found a way to ride around it I was really happy to be able to catch up again with a group of four-cylinder bikes, and to have a nice fight under brakes with Gibernau and Nakano. I'm confident of achieving even better results in the races that are coming up."

Shinya Nakano - 11th - "I’m very sorry for the team and our sponsors - the result was entirely down to a bad rear tyre choice I made this morning after the warm-up. While the early part of the race went really well, on about the tenth lap my rear tyre started to go off and continued to deteriorate all the way to the end of the race. After two big slides that nearly had me off, I had no choice other than to slow right down or risk falling off. Considering it all it’s been a good year so far and I’m still learning all about the bike and the class so I’m happy to be still running sixth in the championship."

Chris Walker - 12th - "That result has done my confidence a lot of good. The only way to get race fit is to get to the finish and that's the first time this season my shoulder hasn't worried me, I've been struggling for strength. My Honda felt a lot more settled here and I decided to use a softer compound rear tyre so I could get on the pace in the early laps. I wanted a top 12 finish and I got it which is a good feeling after my team-mate, Leon Haslam, broke his arm in practice. Now I want to capitalise on this at the next race in Mugello where I've never been before, except to be a spectator."

José Luis Cardoso - 13th - "It was a good day but I felt I should have done better. The bike felt good and I was comfortable, but I’m still finding it a little difficult. There are a few small fine-tuning things that I need to take care of but all in all things are going well."

Noriyuki Haga - DNF 18 laps - "It all happened after the first chicane on the next right. The front just tucked under, but up until that point it was all feeling really good. I’d made some practice starts in the morning warm-up to make sure I got a good start, but I made a mistake during the real thing and found myself stuck behind Rossi. Overall though I’m feeling good out there, and the bike’s feeling better thanks to a better set-up, but there is still some way to go. I like this track and I was hoping for a good result, but that’s racing. At Mugello the Italians are going to be tough to beat, but seeing as I consider myself half Italian anyway I should be in with a chance."

Tohru Ukawa - DNF - "I'm physically okay, fortunately I didn't get hurt at all in the crash. It was my fault, because I've had some big moments
before that should have been a warning. The front end kept pushing and I was close to crashing on various occasions. After ten laps then, when Rossi had just passed me, I finally went down, exactly in the same corner in which Alex crashed yesterday. During the entire weekend, we haven't been able to find a good set-up, not even in today's warm-up, therefore it was impossible for me to keep the pace of the race leaders. I have good memories of the past on this track, but this time, everything went wrong.