MotoGP 2005 Qualifying

John Hopkins qualified his Suzuki GSV-R in eighth place for tomorrow’s Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske Republiky while team-mate Kenny Roberts Jr was only able to complete five laps during qualifying practice due to poor health.

Hopkins (1’58.277) was within 0.8 of a second from pole position and kept up his good run of qualifying with his fourth consecutive top 10 starting position. He used both of today’s sessions to improve various settings on his GSV-R and is confident of finding more from his bike in the race.

Roberts Jr (P17, 1’59.734) began this afternoon's session complaining of a lack of energy and as a precautionary measure was taken to Dr Costa’s clinic where he was immediately put on an intravenous drip and tests were taken to find out the cause of his illness. It is hoped he will be able to compete in tomorrow’s race.

Team SUZUKI MotoGP test rider Nobuatsu Aoki will be racing in his 165th Grand Prix at Brno tomorrow. The talented Japanese rider – who celebrates his 34th birthday next week – qualified in 16th place. Aoki (1’59.495) is riding in his first MotoGP of the season and qualified ahead of riders who have had a season’s worth of racing this year.

Today’s sessions were again held in dry and sunny conditions and the fastest time of the day was set by Spaniard Sete Gibernau on a Honda. Tomorrow’s race will get underway at 14.00hrs CET.

John Hopkins: “It was actually a pretty good session. We got through quite a bit. I put in a distance run on a set of tyres, which are the ones we plan on racing on tomorrow. There are still a few things we can do to improve lap times, but basically we are pretty pleased with how the weekend’s going. It’s the first time back since I had the surgery on my foot, the wound has healed and I’m at 100 per cent. I’m happy to be back out on the bike fully fit.

“This is a track I really enjoy. Eighth place isn’t where we’d like to be – we’d like to be higher – but our slight lack of speed down the straightaway is kind of forcing us to where we are at the moment. There are some things we can do to compensate for it tomorrow and I will be doing my best to get a good finish.”

Nobuatsu Aoki: “We have done a couple of things this afternoon from this morning. We improved the problem from yesterday. When I get qualifying tyre it seems like we need a specific and heavier spring on the back. It seems like the tyre is too spongy and is packing down. If I had time I would have tried heavier springs. I am now looking forward to the race as I have some good basic race settings.”

Dean Miller – Team Physio: “Kenny didn’t feel up-to-par on Friday. He thought it was a little bit of jet-lag. He came in today a little bit dizzy just before the qualifying session, so as a precautionary measure we decided to bring in Dr Costa and he felt that it was necessary to do some diagnostic analysis.

“Kenny was still a bit dizzy so he and Dr Costa decided the best thing would be to have an IV and wait things out. He is now resting comfortably and we will see how things go for tomorrow – one step at a time.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager: “Another great effort by John, he just missed out on the second row by a tenth of a second. We ran through three qualifying tyres and on his last run he was right on the pace, but the grip wasn’t there at the end of the lap and he only managed to marginally improve on his time.

“We need to see if there is any more that we can get out of the GSV-R in the race to help us stay in the 59’s – when the tyres have done a little bit of mileage. Concentrating on improving the bike is more important than a tenth in qualifying.

“Kenny did a good lap time on a race tyre at the start of the session, but that was all he was able to do. He has some flu-like symptoms that have made him feel quite bad. He went to Dr Costa’s for the balance of the session and had an IV to put some energy back into him. It was hoped he would make it back to get out on a qualifying tyre but Dr Costa preferred to keep him there and get him ready for tomorrow.

“Nobu has been steadily improving all weekend and his 16th position is not so far off the lap-times of many of the regular MotoGP riders who have a full season under their belts. In terms of lap-times and effort he is doing a great job, but it is always difficult coming to a Grand Prix after not racing for a year. Hopefully the information he has gained from these two days and then from tomorrow’s race plus two further days of testing next week will help us as we continue to search for improvements to the GSV-R.”

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