MotoGP 2005 - Round 3

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi rode their first tentative laps of the awesome Shanghai circuit today, placing a promising fourth and sixth quickest in this morning's dry session. Unfortunately, rainy, misty conditions spoiled this afternoon's second session for the first-ever Chinese motorcycle Grand Prix.

Today's action at the brand-new circuit, which features the world's most dramatic racetrack architecture and is situated an hour's drive outside China's biggest city, was delayed by a couple of hours because the circuit medical helicopter suffered technical problems.

"It's been a strange day, what with the delay and then the rain," said Ducati MotoGP project manager Livio Suppo. "But the good thing is that Carlos quickly found a good set-up this morning, then Loris too. The only problem seems to be the weather, but the forecast isn't too promising."

Checa and Capirossi went into today's opening practice sessions invigorated by last night's spectacular 'Ducati comes to China' launch party at the city's uber-cool Three on the Bund fashion emporium, where models showed off the exciting range of Ducati clothing now available in the country.

Carlos Checa ended this morning's dry session an impressive fourth fastest, just three tenths down on the fastest man. He was also on the pace in this afternoon's rain-affected session, eventually finishing that outing in ninth. The Ducati Marlboro Team rider was mostly complimentary about MotoGP's newest venue, which features the series' longest straight, at 1.175km/0.73 miles.

"The main straight is really long and really fast, so it's difficult to find a braking point for the first-gear hairpin at the end, especially during your first few laps," said the Spaniard. "It's also quite hard to find the best line out of the fast corner onto that straight. Turn one is very, very long and ends off-camber, which isn't easy, then you're also at maximum angle for a long time through the next left, with no throttle. In a way this track is a bit like the Sachsenring, with a lot of long, slow turns at maximum angle with no throttle. But then, of course, there's a couple of very fast straights! Now I just hope that the conditions stay consistent to Sunday, whatever the weather brings."

Loris Capirossi was sixth fastest this morning, 0.378 seconds behind pace-setter Nicky Hayden, but chose to take things easier in this afternoon's tricky wet session because the cracked ankle he sustained at the Spanish GP earlier this month still isn't fully healed.

"The conditions were part-wet, part-dry, which means you can't make any progress with settings," explained the Ducati Marlboro Team man, who reckons his left ankle is now 85 per cent healed. "Also, because I still don't have full strength in that foot I was running wide onto the white lines, which are very slippery. Overall I like the track and it's pretty grippy. Tomorrow will be very important, our set-up is already pretty good but I want to work some more on low-rpm performance in the slow corners."

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