MotoGP 2005

Shinya Nakano opened the first day of MotoGP competition at Istanbul Park at a blistering pace, setting the fourth fastest time in today's free practice sessions.

Nakano and his Ninja ZX-RR were in high-speed form in preparation for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix - the first ever world championship motorcycle road race to be held in Turkey.

The pace of the smooth-riding Nakano was boosted by his 302.7 kph through the official speed trap - impressively the third fastest of the 19 bikes entered for this race. The fastest speed was 304 kph, just 1.3 kph quicker.

As he learnt the demanding Istanbul circuit - the Otodrom - Nakano lowered his time by 1.2s between the morning and afternoon sessions.

Nakano's impressive run in the afternoon session backed-up the similar efforts of teammate Olivier Jacque in the morning free practice, when the Frenchman was also third fastest through the speed trap at 301 kph.

However in the afternoon session a set-up change did not favour Jacque, and he lost confidence in the front-end, finishing with the 13th fastest time overall.

The Frenchman posted his best lap in the morning session, in which he was eighth fastest.

Both Kawasaki riders spoke highly of the all-new, 14 turn Istanbul Park with its challenging combination of fast and technical corners plus elevation changes.

Despite the thrilling sequence of high-speed corners and full throttle acceleration, sixth gear is used just once on the 5.34 km lap - as riders crest the hill on the spectacular climb from turn 11.

It is on this section that the official speed trap is located, with performance through the fast turn 11 critical to top speed outcome.

Today Nakano and Jacque ran through a detailed evaluation of Bridgestone race tyres, which have so far performed impressively on a track that appears to have similar surface characteristics to the Shanghai circuit.

Shinya Nakano: #56 - Fourth - 1'55.015
"The track is unbelievable, so fast, especially the flat-in-fifth gear turn 11, I'm really enjoying riding here. Even though it was designed on a computer this is a very human track - very good for riders. A big challenge are the blind corner entries over the crests, you have to judge your lines and braking points perfectly. The only downside is that the slow, first gear corners are really too slow and not very interesting for a MotoGP bike. In the afternoon session the bike was much better in the high-speed corners, I had a more stable rear-end set-up. Now the main point is to get a more precise feeling for the slow corners and work through the tyre options, we still have a lot of decisions to make for the race."

Olivier Jacque: #19 - Thirteenth - 1'55.925
"Discovering a new track is always fun and a challenge, but already I have a very good feeling here, especially in the fast right-hand turn 11 - it is flat in fifth gear, I just roll off the slightly on turn-in, and then full gas. And there are some very technical sections like the triple apex turn eight, it is the same corner repeated three times. I was disappointed not to go faster this afternoon, but we made some suspension changes and I lost confidence in the front-end in the fast corners. By the time we went back to the set-up from the morning session I could not regain the same feeling. The bike is fast and the tyres impressive, we just need to get back on the right set-up."

Naoya Kaneko: Technical Co-ordinator
"Shinya's time was very good and a positive start for the weekend. Our main focus during practice and qualifying is to maximise rear traction and power delivery, which is always a challenge at a new circuit as conditions are changing for each session, with more grip on a circuit that is not used on a regular basis. This also influences tyre choice, and final race selection is likely to change as we evaluate all of the Bridgestone options here."\

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