2006 MotoGP Championship - Round 15 - Motegi, Japan - September 22/23/24

Konica Minolta Honda Day 1 Report

Once received the warm welcome of his fans of the Rising Sun, today Makoto Tamada entered the track for the first two hours free practice of the Japanese Grand Prix. Both sessions were held in cloudy conditions with temperatures reaching 25°C. This afternoon, the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team technicians positively evolved the Honda RC211V setting and Tamada could improve his time of about one second. Tomorrow, the team counts on a further step ahead permitting the rider to steadily turn on the leaders pace. Today, the Japanese rider covered 45 laps in total, setting his fastest time in 1’48.160”.

Gianluca Montiron – KONICA MINOLTA Honda General Director
“The use of qualifying tyres surely makes the final results less believable. Makoto was sixth on the last minutes of the session and I think that, working in the two hours’ practice of tomorrow, we’ll be able to find the most suitable bike balance. We must make the best tyres choice; Motegi is a very demanding circuit and it’ll be important to guarantee Makoto a good level in performances for Sunday’s 24 lap race. The Japanese GP is our rider’s home race and it’s obviously very important. Tomorrow, during qualifying, we want to obtain a good result because we are confident that on Sunday Makoto could struggle for the leading positions.”

Makoto Tamada – KONICA MINOLTA Honda Rider (12° - 1’48.160”)
“This morning we started using a new front tyre and had to make some setting modifications before finding the solution ensuring me the right handling level. Infact this afternoon the problem was completely solved and we focused on the choice of the rear tyre for Sunday. I’m already able to turn with a good pace with the best solution of today and tomorrow, I hope to obtain a further improvement.”