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MotoGP
2005 - Round 2 - Estoril MotoGP Qualifying - Kawasaki Report April 16th, 2005
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MotoGP
2005 - Round 2 - Estoril MotoGP Qualifying - Kawasaki Report April 16th, 2005
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| Kawasaki rider, Shinya
Nakano, will start tomorrow's Portuguese Grand Prix at
Estoril from tenth position on the grid, following another
impressive qualifying effort this afternoon. Nakano's Ninja ZX-RR heads the fourth row with a qualifying time that was almost a full second faster than his previous best for Kawasaki at this circuit. Although Nakano expected a little more from qualifying, he was boosted by another productive day of testing and evaluation in preparation for the 23-lap race. Riding alone, with his teammate Alex Hofmann out with a fractured wrist, Nakano again completed an exhaustive technical programme today. With a focus on race set-up, Nakano used most of this afternoon's one hour qualifying session to complete a long race simulation that produced fast, consistent times. Nakano only switched to soft Bridgestone qualifying tyres late in the session. Following adjustments to both front and rear suspension, and tweaks to the chassis set-up, Nakano reported a more balanced feel on the bumpy and twisting infield section of the 4.1 km Estoril circuit. Tomorrow's Grand Prix will be the second race for the 2005 model Ninja ZX-RR, now running the big-bang firing order motor that only came online in February. Despite being in an early development phase, the motor powered Nakano to an impressive fifth place in last Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. The strong winds have been absent from Estoril during two days of practice and qualifying, and the forecast for the race is for similar mild and sunny conditions. Shinya Nakano: #56 - Tenth - 1'38.283 - "The second or third row would have been better, but tenth is okay for the Ninja ZX-RR at this stage with our new motor. The top guys are faster on pure speed, but my bike and tyres were very consistent during my long run this afternoon; it feels good for the race. The set-up is more balanced compared to yesterday, but we need to continue to work on acceleration and traction. Anyway, the ZX-RR is much improved from last year." Ichiro Yoda: Technical Director - "I expected more today, at least the third row in qualifying, but perhaps the race will be a different story. Shinya did an endurance run of 20 laps, and the grip levels of our Bridgestone race tyres was very good. But there are many slow corners here, and this is an area of continuing development with our big-bang engine concept. We know we need more acceleration." Harald Eckl: Team Manager - "On this track, with such a long and fast straight, Shinya is going to need a very good start and a slipstream to stay with the leading group. He did it at Jerez, so hopefully it will be the same tomorrow, although this will be a very close, very tough race. Shinya is very consistent on race set-up; this is the strong point of the Ninja ZX-RR." |
MotoGP Championship
2005
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